How to Find Opportunity Everywhere [Free Download]
In this abundant universe, opportunities are everywhere and ripe for the taking. So why does it seem like they can be so hard to find?
Along the lines of Year of Yes or Yes Day, I toyed around with choosing the theme of “yes” or even “possibility” for our family this year. However, they both quickly felt overwhelming, stressful and just too much. What’s wonderful about possibility is the boundary-less, great wide open, what if. And honestly, I can’t handle that much unrestricted unknown right now.
After considering a couple other options (abundance, joy), I landed on opportunity.
Opportunity—really?
Almost immediately, I grappled with some strong feelings like:
Repugnance. Opportunity smells like opportunistic which brings up cartoon images of that evil railroad guy, twisting his mustache and tipping his top hat while a cigarette burns in a long metal holder and he snickers.
Discrimination. We are well aware that opportunity is part of the recipe for equality and prosperity. And lack of opportunity spawns countless inequities, most often amongst our Black and brown communities. Not okay.
Contempt. The “Land of Opportunity” that my parents’ and grandparents’ generations hailed has shown itself not to really mean opportunity for all. Opportunity Insights, a cross-university team of researchers and data crunchers who work to understand how to improve economic opportunities for all Americans, highlights “90% of children born in 1940 grew up to earn more than their parents. Today, only half of all children earn more than their parents did.”
But, I’m not one to let the negative triumph—especially over a word with so much potential. I may very well spend the year releasing the gross feelings that opportunity can elicit in favor of the real possibilities of what it could mean for me, my work, my family, my clients and our mission of changemaking.
Why opportunity? What does it really mean, how do we enact it and how does it show up in our lives? I like that opportunity keeps the flavor of possibility, but sets some guard rails: you find opportunity within other situations, places, people. Or opportunity comes to you—maybe knocking first. It feels optimistic and energizing rather than too big and paralyzing.
And, in fact, the Googled definition of opportunity reinforces that more tangible quality:
Opportunity: a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
Circumstances…I can create circumstances, I can find circumstances, I can pay attention to circumstances…see how it feels more doable and yet still aspirational?
The circumstances are right here, right now to make a positive change in your world. The time is ripe to take action. Because you are already doing amazing work. You already have a heartfelt commitment to changing the way things are toward the way things could be. You are motivated. You are inspired. You are ready. And even still, you may accidentally block your own way to do this work. You may tire sometimes. You may make your own life harder sometimes. You may undervalue yourself sometimes.
How do you find opportunities everywhere?
Start by noticing your own attachments and feelings about the word. What comes up for you? Are those things true? Why or why not?
Then, choose how you want to invite opportunity into your life. Allow yourself to embrace the feeling of possibility, the “what-if” within opportunity. Consider: What energy does this bring up for you? Is it stress? Is it curiosity? Hope? Freedom? >>Choose the feelings you want to associate with; release those you don’t need.<<
Finally, practice. Practice noticing when there is an opportunity to find. Practice choosing the opportunities that lift you up. Practice talking about the opportunities you’re finding and help others find them, too. It sounds like, “In this moment, what is my opportunity to…?”
Here’s the opportunity for you😉— Join me in finding opportunities this year and let’s see what happens. Grab the free download of opportunity prompts. 👇👇👇
As you go through your day to day, refer to this list to prompt yourself through each situation, decision and conversation to practice seeing possibility through opportunity. You’ve got this. ❤️💥
