4 Ways to Create Your Own Opportunities

I live my life with the utmost faith in opportunity.

There is often a misconception about this statement. People assume the meaning is simple: having faith in life’s path for you. While this is part of having faith in opportunity, it does not encompass the entire meaning. You, as a decision maker, have more of a significant impact on life’s path than you may realize.

Life is broken up into experiences. While they are all unique – in location, interaction and purpose – they are not always random. Proactivity and mindfulness in decision making often times mold the experiences we have. Faith in opportunity is one’s ability to understand that the intentional actions he or she has taken in the past, results in opportunities for personal growth in the future.

I understand that it’s important to know what I want to achieve and where I desire to be years down the road in my life. With this knowledge I have been able to orient my actions and the decisions I make to move myself in a progressive direction. You can do the same. By understanding the support mechanisms that exist in life and acting upon them, favorable opportunities are bound to appear.

There are several tactics I would suggest that allow you to take advantage of these support mechanisms:

1. Develop a relevant knowledge foundation.
   • Learning all you can about topics related to your long term goals exposes you to new people and ideas that may be important down the line. Ensuring you proactively seek out validating articles and experiences is taking a step towards where you would like to be; when an opportunity presents itself, you will be mentally prepared.
2. Do the things you believe will be beneficial in your progress.
   • It is important to act. One can sit and think all they want about a future state, however if there is no action, there will be no progression. Be cognizant of how practicing different habits or partaking in activities could benefit you in the long term. It takes 10,000 hours of focus to be an expert in anything; it is better to start small than not to start at all.
3. Understanding that you are not alone on your path
   • With the directional knowledge of your life, you can facilitate the formation of connections with others that may offer their support in achieving your goals. It takes some practice to learn how to approach these individuals, however with consistency, your network builds in tangent to your knowledge foundation.
4. Believe in your abilities as an independent person and envision your success.
   • If you know and believe whole heartedly that you will do something in your life, the chances of you actually doing it are significantly higher. Through this practice, you develop passion for your goals and life ambitions. This passion is naturally reflected in your actions, which results in directive decision making. You will subconsciously be driving yourself in the direction of your desires and it will be because in your mind, you are certain there is a set destination in which you are trying to reach. .

It is inevitable that life will provide you with many types of choices. Some will be directly related to your desires and some may seem to have no correlation at all. It is important to remain proactive and mindful throughout all of them.

With this mindset, you will capitalize on the support mechanisms and apply them to your decisions. Ultimately, the consequences of your actions will create new opportunities. These opportunities, when taken advantage of, lead you in the direction of your goals and ambitions; they lead you towards the person you want to be; they lead you towards the person you know you are capable of being.

All it takes is faith in yourself and faith in the future.