We are not programmed to recognize opportunity. Someone presents us with a great one, and we pick it apart, telling the person all the reasons why we can’t do it.
Unfortunately, that’s normal. That’s our subconscious trying to keep us safe by preserving the status quo.
So in order to see the true nature of the opportunities in our life, we have to learn to evaluate them from a broader perspective.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been leading you through an exercise to help you do just that. Before moving on to step 4, here are brief versions of steps 1-3 again.
Step 1. Write down your “need,” the amount to the penny of your monthly bills. If you are meeting your need every month, write down what you want, your financial goal.
Step 2. Now, make a list of every opportunity that comes to mind that could help you meet your need or want. No matter how far-fetched or unappealing or scary the idea may seem, write it down.
Step 3. Every opportunity has at least one challenge associated with it ~ something that makes you think the opportunity would be difficult or impossible to pull off.
The most common challenges are not enough money or time, issues with a loved one or prior commitments. Look at your list and write down the challenges that arise as you think about each opportunity.
Step 4. Now, what opportunities are those challenges presenting for you?
Each challenge you wrote down is another opportunity in disguise. It’s an opportunity for you to overcome that challenge and grow.
Once you meet a challenge, you grow past it and don’t have to grow past it again. It may still appear in your life, but you won’t perceive it as a barrier.
For example, let’s say your need is $7,546.35 a month, you’re not meeting it every month, and you want to become a mentor to others in your industry. One of the opportunities on your list is an invitation to teach a class with someone who’s already doing that. One of your challenges is sharing the costs with that person. You think you can’t afford it. The opportunity in that challenge is that you will have to start learning how to manifest money in your life. And as you learn how to do that, you’ll stop seeing money as a problem.
Another challenge might be a lack of confidence, so the opportunity is to raise your confidence. By the sheer act of stepping into your new role, you will give yourself an experience your subconscious can’t deny, and your self-confidence will naturally rise. In the future when you teach, confidence will become less and less of an issue.
So, next to each challenge on your list, imagine what the opportunities might be.
You don’t have to do anything yet. Just let yourself SEE what’s possible. See where the next stage of growth for you might be.
If, after completing your list, you feel excited at the prospect of stepping into that growth, congratulations! That’s the key to overcoming any challenge. View it as an opportunity, and then step into it, and there’s nothing that you can’t do.
David Neagle, The Million Dollar Income Acceleration Mentor and author of The Millions Within, teaches entrepreneurs and commission-based sales professionals how to quantum leap their current incomes past the 7-figure income level, often in less than 12 months. As a world-class speaker, sales trainer, and success-mindset mentor to some of the globe’s top CEOs, David also privately mentors big decision-makers in their pursuit of quantum success and peace of mind.
