When opportunity knocks, don't get a missed delivery card.

I am lucky enough to live in rural Suffolk and once a year, at Arger Fen, the beautiful Bluebells are in bloom. They are however only there for a short time and if you don’t take the opportunity and find a time to go and see them, you can easily miss their beauty. Blink and they are gone so to speak.

This lead me to thinking about missed opportunities. When opportunity knocks, do you grab it with both hands or do you get a card through the door saying missed delivery? If you open the door, do you find fear takes over and fail to utilise the opportunity to best effect? Does this lead to missed business opportunities or leads, events or experiences?

Having been running my own successful business for 4 years now I have learnt to take opportunities and grab them and I think any successful leader, business owner or entrepreneur will echo this view. Many I work with week to week use this talent with great effect, seeing ahead and bringing opportunities to fruition.

I have asked cheeky questions when I shouldn’t have and benefitted from the answer. I have taken chances and reaped reward. But only when I allow myself to take a chance on an opportunity and let it grow.

It’s easy to be safe. I have talked about comfort zones before and stepping out of them. Some opportunities that may arise are outside of comfort zones and seem a step too far, but the kicking yourself for the missed opportunity will probably always be more painful than the fear itself.

It’s easy to become stuck in vicious circles. The same behaviours generate the same results. The only way to break out of circles is to break the edge. Stick a hand out, make a grab and change direction. The momentum may be enough to change your path for the better.

Opportunities arise in work or home life but are so easy to turn down or miss through fear or not even seeing the chance. Feel the fear and do it anyway is an old and well used one, but a favourite of mine and the strength from achieving will only be positive.

But in terms of seeing and grabbing those opportunities, how do we open our eyes?

Be open to new ideas, thoughts, people and things. Talk to people even though there may be no apparent benefit, it could be the next business lead or idea or just open your thoughts to a new learning experience or way of thinking.

Look up from your phone occasionally. This has been said many times around the blog world but despite how busy you may be the new opportunity may be in front of you in real life not the social network world. Network in real life, even those that seem wrong for your business. I have picked up surprising opportunities this way just by being present and talking to people about what I do and what they do. I gained a guest speaking gig at a large organisation from sitting in a very small breakfast networking event next to a very senior person from the organisation. We had a funny chat about how many people tweet him to ask if they can bring dogs to their holiday and we didn’t talk business in the slightest. But I made a big and valuable connection with whom I still work now

Delegate if you can to free up time and energy to see new ideas and thoughts. I have been training on delegation many times recently and I find myself saying on repeat “think about what you are not doing by fire fighting when you could delegate”. Free up some creative head space or just the chance to slow down and reflect on new opportunities you may not see at full pace.

Think outside the box. Move the box, stand on the box, smash up the box , but change your thinking away from how you always, think, talk or behave. Habits do not often bring new opportunities freely. They may be comfortable and serve you well day to day but doubtful they will bring new change into your world.

Try something new. Try yoga if you never have. Go to a new event or training course. Walk a different way. Speak to someone new. Be open to new opportunities from trying new things. You may be entirely surprised when that new opportunity comes knocking.

Get out of those comfort zones. Even if you do one thing this month, challenge yourself to do something that you fear or worry about makes you feel nervous. This may be a presentation, networking for the first time or a new exercise class or you may want to start a new business. If an opportunity for something new is knocking on your door, but you are scared just try taking a deep breath and open the door. Then smile, say hello and enjoy.

My advice this spring, plant lots of seeds of opportunity of all types, even when you haven’t read the packet. Water them all and see what grows and don’t focus on the obvious. The smallest flower may have the sweetest scent or the ugly weed some healing properties. Your problems may not always be solved by obvious solutions and you may be surprised by what you grow and reap.

If you don’t find the time or space or inclination to open your eyes and look, the bluebells may be gone.