by Nwokedi Chinny Uju

Opportunities don’t usually announce themselves when they show up.it could be a simple smile from you to a complete stranger, a hello on your way up the stairs or a brief introduction by a mutual friend. Whatever the case, an opportunity is a set of circumstances or an opening in time that makes it possible for certain events to happen. The most important thing is for you to be ready when opportunity knocks at your door.

Let’s say you like running, not running as in running away from commitment or responsibilities; running as a form of exercise and with proper training and commitment, you could beat world Record. So every day you wake up by 4 am and just run for miles and miles and miles, maybe because it gives you time to think or possibly gives your day a good start and eventually it becomes a hobby. If you never get an opportunity to show someone who matters that you can beat the world record, you will run for the rest of your life and no one will ever hear your name or know who you are. If no one picks an interest in you and decides to help you, you will run all your life and still be unknown. At the exact moment when you get noticed and someone decides to go all out for you, that is an opportunity.

The million dollar question is, how prepared are you for that breakthrough you have been praying for? You might be better that Celine Dion but only your bath tub and the mirror in your bathroom know that you have talent. You might even have potentials to be the next Ronaldino but no one will ever hear of you because even though you have raw talent, you were unprepared when opportunity knocked at your door.

Last year, I was at the one Lagos food tasting at the former bar beach in Lagos with friends and family When Waje; a Nigerian music goddess, was there to perform. During her performance, the audience seemed bored. So she playfully asked what they wanted and someone said freestyle. In the same mood, she asked the guy who suggested the freestyle to come on stage and freestyle with her. The guy rapped while she sang and mehn they made a good team. After her performance, the young guy followed her back stage.

When I saw him leave with her I smiled because I knew the guy just opened the door for opportunity.

He was ready when opportunity knocked. Most times we have all these huge dreams and plans and desires but we don’t practice, we don’t fine tune, we don’t develop new skills or add to what we already know. You just stay there and get rusty, and then when opportunity comes, you are unprepared, underqualified and useless at that moment.

Wake up and smell the coffee!! Get a college degree, get a master’s degree, get endorsements for new skills, write professional exams, read up on current affairs, improve yourself, get better.

I will borrow Martin Luther’s words to say “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.” Don’t say I can’t afford it or I can’t cope with it, it’s rigorous or any other excuse you want to find for yourself. I know you know there is always a place and level you can fit in to.

Preparation precedes opportunity, don’t put the cart before the horse.

Be Ready!!!

---

Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija