How to Wisely Commit to Recognized Opportunity

Focus on this: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you." (Prov, 4:7-9).

Let's try it again! Opportunityisnowhere! What do you see when you first look? You have two specific and main possibilities, You can see opportunity is nowhere. If that's what you see, you are right! In this particular case, though, what you did not see is far more important. Let's look again! Opportunity is now here. Now if that's what you see, you are right also,

This exercise illustrates the principle that two or more people viewing identical evidence can see something entirely different and both be right. This exercise also illustrates the power of perspective because you see all challenges through the lens of your dominate paradigm.

Before moving to this article's principal purpose, let's discuss briefly the power of paradigms. Paradigms are neither good nor bad, and you cannot understand them when you attempt to judge or evaluate them. Paradigms are effective and ineffective. Paradigms define how you see and value the world. They also determine how you interact with everything around you. Almost all paradigms work effectively when initially embraced. Yet over time, particularly as knowledge increases, almost all paradigms become increasingly ineffective. Paradigms possess two critical powers. They propel and they paralyze. Consider this! Paradigms reveal and blind! They position people for action and freeze people in apathy. They propel you forward and plague your progress. At the nadir of their ineffectiveness, paradigms lead people to cling to the past that cannot be changed, while avoiding, even fighting against the future where our greatest opportunities for change exist. In summary ineffective paradigm train you to A.C.O.P.E. Adjust to Chains of Past Experiences.

Thus what you see--opportunity is nowhere or opportunity is now here--reveals, not the facts, but rather how your paradigm sees, values and acts on the facts,

In this article, we will discuss how to wisely commit to recognized opportunity!

Let's define the four key words in that thesis: wisely, commit, recognized, opportunity.

Wisdom, as I use it here, refers to two Hebrew words--sophia and phronesis. Sophia, translated "wisdom" means to have intense insight into the true nature of things. Phronesis, translated "wisdom" refers to the ability to discern modes of action, with a view to their results.

Commit, as I use it here, means to invest sufficient resources in earnest expectation of a specific and predictable outcome. The resources I refer to are your time, energy, attention and money. That's the T.E.A.M. of resources, if you will, that all of us have in abundance, but that most of us waste profoundly.

Recognized here means: "To know a thing to be something that has been perceived before." It is critically important to understand that you simply cannot recognize what you've never seen before. Therefore, if all of your life you have seen: "Opportunity is no where," you simply will not be able to recognize "opportunity is now here, until someone reveals it.

Consider how Napoleon Hill discussed this principle in his famous book--Think and Grow Rich: "One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word 'impossible.' He knows all the rules which will NOT work. He knows all the things that CANNOT be done. This book was written for those who seek the rules which have made others successful and are willing to stake everything--[your T.E.A.M. of resources] on those rules. A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary, The first thing I did with it was to turn to the world 'impossible.' and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do. Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become FAILURE CONSCIOUS,"(Emphasis, Napoleon Hill).

If you've read this far in this article, you are probably success conscious. Most failure conscious individuals simply will not read this far because this information does not entertain them and therefore appears to be boring to those individuals who are failure conscious. Knowledge like this makes their heads hurt. That's basically what failure conscious individuals mean when they say: "That's too much to read."

Myron Golden summarizes this concept in his book--The Ebony Treasure Map--when he writes: "Another difference between the wealthy and the poor is that poor people entertain themselves, but rich people educate themselves. Poor people collect DVDs and movies and video games. Rich people collect books, seminar experiences, and audio programs that teach them how to do something they want to learn how to do. Let me repeat. Poor people entertain themselves. Rich people educate themselves."

In other words, poor people, broke people, failures, whatever label you choose to use, become that way because they invest their T.E.A.M. of resources--time, energy, attention and money--into preening themselves with entertainment. This insatible lust for entertainment reveals the dominant paradigm--how poor people, etc. see, value and interact with everything around them. Similarly, the insatible desire for knowledge reveals the dominant paradigm--how wealthy, successful, etc. people--see, value and interact with everything around them.

Who are you?

Please understand that before you can commit to recognized opportunity, someone must first introduce you to opportunity. For example, you could not recognize Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, the world's two richest men unless the media had introduced them to you. Literally millions of people in this country, for example, still will not recognize Gates or Buffet because even though they watch the same television media you watch, they do not see it the same way.

Consider this illustration. Gates and Buffet have been introduced to you,me and millions of others through the NEWS media, particularly television news. I define this acronym as Networking, Educating, Writing and Strategizing. Whether you present news or consume it, that's essentially what you do--network, educate, write and develop strategy. Many milions of people watch televison media and watch SEWN--Seeing Entertainment With [the] Night. You see, those are the same "facts," simply reorganized according to the dominant paradigm. That's why television media executives call the three hours from 8-11pm "prime time." They know that the largest audiences of stupified social and economic "failures" will feed their lusts for entertainment during those hours before going to bed so they can get up on time the next day to continue their dreary, unsuccessful lives.

In the same way, for you to have the ability to recognize opportunity, that it is "now here," you must have someone who knows opportunities--an opportunist--introduce you to one. What makes a certain idea, a certain set of circumstances, conditions and situtions opportunities. Can a crisis, such as the current economic recession be viewed as an amazing, worldwide egalitarian opportunity, for example?

Egalitarianism is the belief that all people are equal and should have identical access to social, political and economic opportunities.

Consider my defintion of opportunity. It is an idea that, when enlivened by the appropriate investment of time, energy, attention and money by a person or persons, produces widely beneficial outcomes. So how do you wisely commit to such ideas?

Here are the seven principles that empower you to wisely commit to opportunity:

1. Set a goal to become introduced to an opportunity by an opportunist so that you can recognize other opportunities when they are "here," with "here" meaning wherever you are.
2. Prepare yourself to achieve that initial goal and subsequent ones by re-allocating your TEAM of resources from entertainment to education.
3. Achieve and maintain wellness because dis-ease devours desire.
4. Develop drive, or the ability to move relentlessly toward your goal(s)
5. Develop resourcefulness, or the ability to use your TEAM of resources to conquer challenges, breach barriers, overcome obstacles and master mistakes.
6. Develop perseverance, or the ability to stick with the mission, driven by the vision of earnest expectations.
7. Build all you do on the foundation of aligning with powerful spiritual principles, especially truth.

There you have it! The principles that position you to wisely commit to recognized opportunity. Remember this: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding."