Taking vs Creating Opportunity

Note To Self: Start Creating Opportunities

I’m very good at seizing on opportunities. There aren’t many that have come my way that I didn’t hold onto. My problem however has been my inability to create opportunities. A subtle but very important difference. The difference between taking advantage of opportunities and creating them is the difference between being the CEO and the founder.

The difference is important because realizing your dreams requires creating opportunities for them to happen. That to me is the real definition of success. Creating the opportunities needed to accomplish your dreams. If you can do that, then you can be successful.

Up until this point in my life I’ve been a taker. An opportunity to go to college provided by my mother. An opportunity to work and make money in a family business. With money in my pocket, the opportunity to take time off and figure out what I wanted to do. Yes, every one of these opportunities required work. Graduating college required studying and going to class (sometimes). Working my way up the corporate ladder required sacrificing relationships. But that’s it. I was handed an opportunity to work.

Now, I want to flip that and be the creator of opportunities for myself and others. At this point in my life I’m focused on solving that problem. All I have right now is a strong work ethic, and my knowledge from life lived, which will have to be enough.