When I was in my early 20’s, I saw something amazing. I was assigned to calculate whether we met a covenant with a bank. A banker showed me an impressive excel worksheet. When the banker clicked a button icon, multiple tasks were automatically performed by the excel sheet. I was fascinated because I realized we could do many things with an excel sheet. On the day, I determined to learn not only using excel but also learn to program macros within excel. Few people could operate excel back then, so it allowed me to seek future possibilities. This event pushed me to research technology. I started studying programming, which led me to specialize in digital transformation within the finance field. Fortunately, I had many friends in the IT field to help me get into this field. I saw many potential opportunities in the area, and identifying the opportunities made me who I am now.
There are so many opportunities around us. I think a successful entrepreneur, company, and inventor actively seek potential opportunities from available information. For example, Mark Zuckerberg saw the opportunity to create social ties over the internet. Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel in 1999 (text board), saw the options to create a media platform to interact with anonymous users online.
Finding opportunities improves our lives in many ways. Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg created an online social network platform. Finding a job is essential, but finding an opportunity helps you get into a specific position as I did. You may be able to solve potential problems. So, I see finding opportunities as a necessary factor to succeed.
Reading and Researching About a Potential Opportunity
To utilize potential opportunities, you must obtain information or knowledge about the possibilities. Without understanding the opportunities, you will not be able to use them properly. Thus, you must be willing to read and research the new information you obtained. I created a note on A4 (letter size) printing paper whenever I saw an interesting piece of new information. Then, I start digging into the details of the information.
There are many ways to gather information. I generally seek more information from books, technical magazines, online journals, blogs, or other online sources. I may take online courses from Coursera, Udemy, etc. There are so many online sources you can collect information and knowledge of new information.
When I create a note about new information, I write down what I want to know. Now you have a purpose for seeking the info. Then, I read and researched the further information I wanted to know.
See the Big Picture from an Opportunity
When I find new information, I list the potential opportunities from the new information. I create a mind map to identify possible options from the technology. If you find out the technology about the internet back in the ’90s, you list the items that come from the internet. The internet made many changes to our life. I imagined that Mark Zuckerberg saw social networks on the internet, and Jeff Bezos created an online store over the internet. Write down any possible future outcome from the new information you obtained. Then, you start to see some big picture from the new opportunities. Some further information can lead to multiple possibilities.
If you do not Act, you do not benefit from an Opportunity.
Many complain about losing opportunities because they did not grab them. I am no exemption for this case. I recognized I had let go of some opportunities because I acted too slow or disregarded potential opportunities. Many of us notice opportunities; however, we lose them by failing to act upon them. You have to be active to capitalize on the opportunities.
Make Yourself Ready for An Opportunity
My definition of opportunity is something that will solve my problems. Instead of looking for an opportunity to make me successful, I look to solve my potential issues or desires. Over 15 years ago, I saw my colleagues in the finance department working 60-70 hours per week to complete their reports. So, I developed an integrated excel template to solve that problem. Later, we introduced a Business Intelligence (BI) tool to replace the excel templates.
Every day, I create ten pages of notes. I write about issues I want to solve, new information, etc. Sometimes I sit with the problems for a while. The critical part of these notes is to organize your thoughts. So, I will be prepared when I see an opportunity to solve existing problems. It does not necessarily have to be new technology. Sometimes, I found a sudden contact to solve the current issue – I still call this finding my great opportunity. Please see the Zero thinking Memo Skill blog to learn about the notes I create.
I also think people perceived as successful often have a common trait. These successful people seek opportunities themselves, while many seek a job opportunity to get them somewhere.
I think an opportunity does not necessarily have to be an event that brings you a lot of money or things like that. Like I found 20 years ago, a little opportunity was an opportunity that I developed into something useful. If we actively look for opportunities, they can be found anywhere around us. The important thing is that you must prepare yourself to grab those opportunities and capitalize on the benefits from the opportunities.
To prepare yourself for potential opportunities, I highly recommend you make notes to organize your thoughts every day. This little exercise helps you see your existing issues that need to be solved and identify the new information you may use to solve your problems. Finally, you have to prepare to understand the new opportunities if you will grab and use them.