Opportunities are always among us.
I am a true believer that most of us (myself included), do not always see or realize fantastic opportunities when they are presented.
Job offers, business partnerships, expanding your role at work, etc. are easy to see and comprehend these opportunities.
BUT, these aren't the opportunities I am talking about...
There are likely hundreds of other opportunities that we sometimes miss.
This realization came to me while I was in college. And it solidified my perception that opportunities are often missed or overseen, and having more awareness is the key to connecting on the opportunities.
While I was at Viterbo University, a Keynote Speaker was coming to campus in the Fall of 2009. The presenter was the CEO of Briggs & Stratton out of the Milwaukee area at the time. For those who have not heard of Briggs & Stratton, in their heyday they made over 10 million engines per year for lawn mowers and snow blowers such as Toro, and was over a $2 billion organization.
One of my professors said this CEO was coming into town early and was going to be at Grounded coffee shop at 7:30AM in downtown La Crosse if anyone wanted to join.
I thought to myself - getting coffee with the CEO of this company would be pretty damn cool!
I assumed that other students from my class would go and be there. At minimum, I thought I could just sit there and listen to someone with this type of experience and learn from someone that I otherwise would have zero access to.
Lo and behold, I was the only one that showed up besides my professor.
It was the CEO, my professor, and myself - a junior in college who probably went out drinking the night before and more than likely didn't even iron his shirt.
We sat there for two hours talking about business, leadership, the great State of Wisconsin, and how he balanced his personal and professional life.
I was dumbfounded. I seriously could not believe it, and still can't believe it to this day.
So my suggestion to others when building awareness and figuring out how to see or gain these types of opportunities is this:
1) Write down things that catch your attention that you might be somewhat interested in throughout the week. You can do this in your notes app on your phone.
2) Ask yourself "Do I normally have access to this type person or information or whatever it may be?" If the answer is yes, you can probably do it another time. If not, then this could be a unique opportunity.
3) Determine if there is a likely possibility of learning something. If the possibility is high, then you might want to give this a second thought.
4) Ask yourself what you have to lose if you do go? Maybe it is time, maybe you have enough free time, maybe it means you will have to work an additional hour to keep up on work, is it a loss of family time? Weigh those options, because you cannot say yes to everything.
Week 30 of 52
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