Don’t Get Stuck!

There is this idea that if you define your goals clearly and put in the necessary work toward achieving them, then you surely will. It might take a while—perhaps longer than others—but consistency is key to getting to the top. These days, I’m not all too sure that this will always hold, especially because time and chance are key to the achievement of any success.

The idea is a little layered. If you prepare well enough, then opportunities will show up. Basically, preparation births opportunity. It’s as simple as saying that if you prepare by going through medical school, then when (not if) there is an opportunity to hire a doctor, it becomes open to you. And this makes sense, but the sense is not absolute. The truth is, you can be diligent in preparation, yet time and chance can cause an opportunity to elude you. Yes, people will tell you there will be another opportunity, and that’s exactly what happens—another opportunity—a different one. The exact same opportunity will not always come again.

Think of it like this. You start your career at a reputable company, and you work your way up to becoming a C-suite executive with the goal of becoming CEO of the company. When the CEO leaves, you get passed over for the role; instead, another C-suite executive who came through the ranks with you gets selected. Firstly, it doesn’t necessarily mean he/she prepared better than you did. Secondly, that opportunity may never come again. This other person might do great at the role and would retire at about the same time as you would.

What does this all mean? You can prepare adequately, and the opportunity may never come or may pass you by. Time and chance do exist—luck. Can you help your luck through preparation? Most definitely. The most important lesson, however, is that preparation doesn’t get wasted because you can leverage it into another opportunity or goal instead of getting stuck on the initial one.

George Weah is one of the greatest players to have played football and is still date the only African player to ever win the Ballon d’Or. He played in top leagues and at great clubs like Monaco, PSG, AC Milan, and Marseille, but he never won the UEFA Champions League. It was one of his greatest goals to play in the FIFA World Cup, and despite all his commitment to that goal, his country was never able to qualify. While that seems to be a lost goal (pun intended), the preparation towards it gave Weah enough popularity and goodwill that helped him attain a different goal of becoming President of Liberia. Today, Weah also has a son who has played and scored in the World Cup, and there are no doubts that the legacy and goodwill of his father would have counted at some point in his development.

Ultimately, good preparation may position but won’t guarantee you an opportunity, but the learnings and experience from preparing for one opportunity can be leveraged in another. Of course, new goals require additional (different) preparation.

This article is not so much about ‘not being an incurable optimist’ concerning your goals, as it is about ‘not getting stuck’.

Don’t get stuck!