Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.
Orison Swett Marden
Opportunities are known as such for a reason: they are a chance for us to realize our dreams, to advance in the pursuit of our goals, be it professional, personal, financial, or spiritual goals.
Any goal-driven individual must always be on the lookout for an opportunity to succeed. Once such a chance presents itself – and it always does, so long as we have both the patience to wait for it and the acumen to identify it – we need to grab it with both hands. However, despite its advantages, it is hard to deny that this is a reactive approach to life. Waiting for something to happen before we could take our destiny in our own hands is always a risky, if not an outright foolish endeavor.
One of the hallmarks of successful men is their proactive outlook on life; they believe in making things happen, instead of waiting for them to happen. Such men go ahead and create opportunities where there are none, setting themselves up for even bigger things. And even when they do get a simple opportunity they didn’t work to achieve, they make something extraordinary out of it. They do not believe in miracles and seldom leave anything to chance. This gives them a distinguishable head start on their competitors and peers.
Such enterprising attitude might look easy, but it is actually very hard to adopt. It takes a lot of fortitude and character to turn an unfavorable situation to your advantage. After all, it is rare to find a person who would see an opportunity in a disaster that has left everyone around them rattled.
Dr. Orison Swett Marden was an American author. Known for his inspirational books and quotes, Marden is known to have written: “Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.”