One thing that I am often asked is how to seize opportunities when they arise? Whether it’s from lack of confidence or not realising that it’s an opportunity, it’s a common issue that people do not know how to seize an opportunity when it presents itself. So, what do you need to know?

How do you know when an opportunity arises?

1. Listen! Keep your ear to the ground and listen to see what might be coming up
2. Be aware of any changes that may be happening in your inner circle (both positive and negative!)
3. Think and make changes proactively. This means owning the change and making a change that you want to see happen.

Why do you do this?

Bring together the different potential opportunities as they arise for your project, organisation and career. If you continue to coaster along in life, you risk not having any control over your career.

What is an opportunity?

An opportunity could be anything! A new way of working, an offer to learn or more practically it could be a new job opportunity or prospect. Some Project Managers will tell you that YOU are the key behind any opportunity and you need to be creating your own opportunities. I agree with this but I also think that it’s very smart to not only work on creating your own opportunities but looking at where opportunities may exist in your environment.

How can you create opportunities?

Here are a few tips for what I do to create opportunities:

• Network: This is a great way to not only learn about new opportunities but also to work with your network to create opportunities and new possibilities.
• Look at what’s missing: look around you. Look at the gaps that might exist and can you fill them? In your job, are there improvements that could be made to make things easier? In your private life: are you able to make any efficiency improvements?
• See what’s going on: What trends do you see around you? Are people focusing their efforts on AI? What’s happening around you? An example of this most recently for me has been about environmental changes and impact and I’ve been looking at how I can make this integral into my working life as an opportunity for progress and improvement.

Seizing an opportunity is not something that should be an “optional” activity. It’s something that you should look for in every day.