Opportunities that could lead to success
MANY individuals often claim that luck is not on their side. According to them, they are very talented and capable but they just lack the opportunities to be successful overnight.
Some individuals also say that many successful people are able to make it big because God gave them a big break. If they are given the same opportunity, they would have been successful too.
The truth is most of us do not lack opportunities. In actual fact, we often focus too much on the problems and neglect the opportunities.
When we are always on the look out for opportunities, we will find that they are in fact everywhere. We are not just talking about current opportunities but also future possibilities.
When we use an eye for opportunities to view this world, we will become curious and look deeper into all matters. We will then discover many things that we’ve never seen and begin to reflect on things that have never crossed others’ minds.
In order to always keep opportunities in mind, here are some points we have to take note of. Turn complaints opportunities into
Whenever we receive any complaint, we should not become defensive and dispirited. In fact, we should take it as an opportunity to improve our service, product or ourselves.
Ask the customer who complained, “What can I/we do to make things better?” or “What can I/we do to avoid making the same mistake?”
And when they give suggestions, take note of them. If the suggestions are good, we should remember and put them into practise. If they are not that good, we can still improve on them.
In this way, we would have learned many ways and means of keeping customers happy. Turn responsibilities into opportunities
Opportunities are not necessarily something big that occurs in our lives. They can be small windows found on a daily basis.
We should view everything we do as a possibility that might turn into an opportunity, as we will never know when one particular project or decision may lead us to the goal we would like to reach.
Thereareso many opportunities that lie in wait and if we are able to find the right button, we would get them. The key is to keep working on it consistently until we make it. Random acts of work and attempts will seldom bring about this possibility.
When we are able to change our normal responsibilities into opportunities, we would see things positively. We would take them as challenges to improve and seek possible solutions. Modify low-value work
When there is any work that requires tremendous effort but is actually not productive, we should think of a way to simplify the process.
Computerisation is one way of cutting down manual labour and making things more systematic. For instance, instead of using human labour to cut and pack loaves of bread, the factory uses machines to do the work. In that way, the factory only needs workers to maintain quality control.
Hence, if there is any work that bogs us down, we should find solutions to simplify the process so that we will be free to do more high-value work. Observe problems unresolved
We should always be on the look out for unresolved problems – issues that bother a lot of people but nobody has yet to provide a solution for them.
For instance, working individuals are tired of eating out during lunch time but they do not have the time to prepare their lunch. Hence, many caterers have seen the opportunity and started to provide home- cooked meals for working individuals. The working individuals place their order and the caterers will deliver the food to their office.
Hence we need to identify all these unresolved issues and provide a solution. When we are able to do that, we will find opportunities are right at our doorstep.
Priscilla Hiu is a career guidance consultant of Gracia Management and a certified behavioural consultant of DISC Personality Profiling System, Institution of Motivation Living, USA and Extended DISC Personality Profiling System, Extended DISC Northgate.