When Opportunity Knocks

Stories abound about people who failed to see the opportunity when it knocked. In hindsight every missed chance appears quite foolish. However, if we were able to go back and see things as they appeared at that moment, most of us would have made the same foolish choice and passed. Perhaps those who trudge headlong into those opportunities are really the wisest among us. They’re able to see past the logic of the risk.

Most of us are like the big fish. We see an apparent risk-free opportunity and jump on it. There’s little chance of that smaller fish doing any harm to that bigger fish - unless he’s toxic to the big fish. Life is all about risk and reward. Few dare to seize the most obvious opportunities.

I’ve heard all kinds of stories about missed opportunities. Businessmen have lamented chances to own decent percentages of companies that went public, or were purchased, resulting in tremendous returns. At the time, the risks just seemed enormous.

When two young businessmen named Cuban and Wagner offer a company a percentage stake in their young enterprise, broadcast.com, for $1 million — who could have seen the opportunity to accomplish anything other than the loss of $1 million. Don’t even bother doing the math. The missed opportunities is a ridiculous amount.

When a young Nolan Bushnell gave somebody the chance to buy into his upstart, Atari, who could have seen the opportunity for anything except utter failure and the loss of their investment. Pong would forever alter entertainment by spurring on the video gaming revolution. Ralph Baer invented the game, but Bushnell was the driving force that brought it to market - and got rich in the process.

Opportunity knocks. Some people hear it. Some ignore the sound and are paralyzed with fear of losing something.

Others hear fake knocks better left ignored, fearlessly keeping their losing streak alive (often with dreams of getting rich). They make one poor choice after another, unable to recognize opportunities from scams.

The rarest hear the knock, listen and decide to answer. They have a keener discernment of the risk and the reward. They’re luckier perhaps because sometimes they hit. But sometimes they miss. Unlike most of us they see something invisible to most. They have a recognition or fearlessness others don’t.

Some light goes off in their head and their gut tells them, “Go for it.” Their instincts direct them to take the chance - perhaps in the face of seemingly bad odds. They risk it. They either lose. Or they win. What do they know that we may not know?

I’ve concluded only one thing, but it’s powerfully important.

They know that if you don’t play - there’s no chance for winning. Losing, or the risk of losing, is just part of the game. They don’t take losing as fatal or permanent. It’s merely a potential step in the process toward winning.