Archive: Business & Technology

How often are you aware of opportunities that seem to arise out of the blue?  If you notice what seems to be an unusual opportunity, do you immediately act upon it…or do you hesitate, allowing your mind to weigh whether and how to seize what may seem like a fluke, a gamble, or perhaps something  too insignificant to actually be of any purpose?  Or perhaps too big to be able to take on?

I’ve had about two weeks of ongoing synchronicities surrounding the theme of opportunity.  Piggy-backed with that are events and people so integrally connected, that the opportunities are beginning to look like giant jigsaw pieces coming together, as if their sides were magnetically charged.  Sound familiar?  This kind of thing happens to people all the time – it’s more natural for opportunities to abound than to be lacking.

This latest attention on opportunity all started with Kevin Shreve,  who is a financial planner providing advisory services through his business Financial Designs. He and I are members of the Ithaca Thumbs Up! Chapter of BNI (Business Networking International), and recently met,  along with my partner Michael, to learn more about one another, our businesses, and our driving values and business philosophies.  

In our discussion, Kevin shared how he attributes much of his success to having learned to see opportunities when they present themselves, and to embrace the possibilities that unfold when he acts upon them.  After that meeting I had a couple of “book synchronicities” that gave me the following material I’d like to share with you.

Three days after having the “opportunity” discussion with Kevin, I picked up a book sitting on the coffee table at home, thinking it was a Spanish cookbook I was looking for, opened it, and read this:

“Prepare for opportunity.  If you were presented with a unique opportunity, would you be prepared to engage it?  How many times in life has opportunity arrived, but you weren’t prepared so you had to pass?  The one thing you can start doing now is to prepare yourself for anything.  Then you’re going to create opportunity.  The more prepared you are, the more chances will come your way.  If you do not participate because of fear that you’re not ready or aren’t good enough and will fail, you will be stuck sitting on the sidelines of life.  You become the passive spectator watching everybody else in action, saying, “That looks like so much fun.  Why am I not dong that?”

“So prepare yourself emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually, and creatively.  Take every part of your life that needs sharpening and start honing.  Focus and unclutter so that when the opportunity appears, you’re ready to go.”

The book I picked up was the same color as the Spanish cookbook, but its recipes are for living more fully, instead of filling one’s belly!  The book is Living in the Moment, by Gary Null.

This morning Michael read to me from John Kehoe’s book, Mind Power, which contrasts prosperity consciousness with scarcity mentality. (I’ll share more about this in next week’s article).    Prosperity consciousness recognizes it’s an abundant universe, and that there are staggering numbers of opportunities in every aspect of our lives.  Kehoe posits that if we believe that, then we will actively search them out. 

In our consulting practice, we’ve worked extensively with business owners who are either in dire need of turnaround assistance, or conversely, who engage us to help grow their businesses.  In most cases, those companies with chronic problems, and losses, have owners with scarcity mentalities.  And those who believe they deserve success and the abundance that accompanies it, possess a prosperity consciousness. 

Where are you in your life?  Are you always struggling?  Worrying about finances?  Blaming the economy for your bad luck?  Always experiencing conflict with others?  Or are you happy with your life?  Enjoying bountiful opportunities, and being grateful for your prosperity?  In what ways do you feel prosperous?  Financially?  Great health?  Wonderful relationships with family, friends, colleagues?  Spiritually fulfilled?  It’s your choice.  Just decide what you want, and start paying attention.  Soon you’ll begin seeing more and more opportunities, realizing they have many faces and dimensions, and that they’re always available when you’re ready to make them yours.


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