Ready! Set! … uh … uh … uh … Go?

You’ve been dreaming about accomplishing something in particular for years, the opportunity to do so suddenly arises, and almost as quickly it’s gone!

So is the opportunity and the dream.

What happened?

You hesitated.

Hesitation is a leading killer of both opportunities and dreams. Sometimes we get only one chance to make a dream come true, and if we hesitate when finally faced with opportunity, we may miss out.

Here are a few steps we can take to avoid hesitation and missing out on opportunities:

1. KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE: An unsettled set of core beliefs will result in hesitation, because you’re unsure of what really is important to you. If you have to first think about whether something is important to you, opportunity could be long gone while you think things out. Make the time to sort through now what you really do believe so you can be prepared to act from your beliefs.

2. CREATE COMMITMENTS: Once you know what you believe, decide what you’re committing yourself to now and in the future. Creating commitments is like the runner getting in the crouch stance, ready for the start gun to sound. Because you’ve established what you’re committed to, you will quickly embrace opportunity to make commitments become reality rather than miss out because of hesitation.

3. DILIGENTLY SEEK OUT OPPORTUNITY: If you’re consistently looking for opportunity, you’ll be better prepared to see opportunities when they appear, or see the chance to create opportunity when possible.

4. BE FEARLESS! Once you know what you believe, have committed yourself to act by grabbing or creating opportunity, and you’re diligent about seeking opportunity, don’t be afraid to jump when opportunity finally presents itself. Be confident in your beliefs and commitments and go for it! If it turns out what appeared to be a good opportunity wasn’t so good after all, you can always redirect yourself back to your original commitment. Better that than to miss out on real opportunity by hesitating!

Scotty