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Critical Skill 7: The Opportunity Action Test

February 17, 2008 by Liz Leave a Comment

Fast Information and Quick Decisions

Future Skills

Do decisions ever come too quickly? Is choosing among your options ever a problem? it seems the more plugged in we are, the more we have to move instantly. It’s stressful. The situation can become so overwhelming that we’re stuck, standing, staring, while the world keeps turning and opportunities pass us by.

A bias toward opportunity and action can help us stay on top of the situation. The key is to base that forward leaning with solid decision making.

The Opportunity Action Test

No one wants to miss a great opportunity. Yet we all do, because great opportunities show up when we’re not ready. They don’t announce their value, nor do they look much different from big mistakes we might have made.

So how do we have a bias toward acting on opportunities that doesn’t lead down a path of personal destruction? Here’s a list of questions to help you choose the right action when an opportunity comes your way.

  • Does this opportunity suit me? Know who you are. If we know our values and our skills, we can be realistic about projecting our success when an opportunity arises.
  • Does this opportunity take me in the right direction? Know your goals. We might be right for an opportunity, but it might not takes us closer to where we’re going.
  • Is the timing right? Opportunities are changes that involve risk. The amount of risk our lives can handle changes based on situations and circumstances. The right opportunity at the wrong time is a bad decision.
  • What relationships and expectations can you see? The goals and promises of an opportunity that come to fruition are a direct result of the relationships between the people who are a part and their expectations of each other and the endeavor.
  • What’s the loss if you do it? What’s the loss if you don’t?

Ask yourself those five quick questions. Verbalize the answers and you’ll know the appropriate action. No more getting stuck, standing, staring. You’ll be a part of the world changing and turning.

How do you decide when to act on an opportunity?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Need help finding a niche that fits you? Click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related articles
The 10 Skills Most Critical to Your Future
Critical Skill 1: Strategic Deep Thinking
Critical Skill 5A: 3 Parts of Spectacular Ideas
Critical Skill 6A: Five Tools for Finding Faulty Assumptions

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Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: 10 Skills Most Critical to Your Future, bc, brand-niche-marketing, critical-skills

Comments

  1. amypalko says

    February 17, 2008 at 11:07 AM

    I think it’s mostly instinctual for me, Liz. I would like to say that I measure up the time commitment with the excitement I feel about the project and the possible beneficial outcomes. But the reality is that I go with gut feeling. I think that often we override our instincts, but that by making sure we stay aware of them they can often help us make a good decision.

    Reply
  2. Steve Bannister says

    February 17, 2008 at 3:14 PM

    Hi Liz,

    Thanks so much for your post! I am presenting at a conference in a few months on the topic of decision-making. I sent out a question on LinkedIn asking for people’s top three things to remember when making a decision (received some great answers). After I finished responding to everyone I checked out my friend Phil Gerbyshak’s blog and noticed SOBCon08. I then checked out the site and ended up here where you are talking about … decision-making! Anyway, I hope you have a great conference.

    I have only started blogging this past fall so I will be back to your blog again.

    Thanks,
    Steve

    Reply
  3. Kristi Holl says

    February 17, 2008 at 3:44 PM

    I am starting finally to take more time to think through decisions. I have gone off on too many “you gotta do this thing!” tangents. Sometimes the tangents have cost money–mostly they have cost time that was hard to make up when the “opportunity” only turned out to be putting money in someone else’s pocket. The one thing I have learned to do which has saved me from signing up for dead-end “opportunities” the past few years has been to ask the person selling me something for actual names of people I can contact who have been satisfied with their program. (More than just reading the blurbs on their website ads.) It has been enlightening–and kept me from wasting a lot of time and some money getting off-track.

    Reply
  4. Barbara Rozgonyi says

    February 17, 2008 at 4:30 PM

    What a timely post – I’m sorting through a few fresh connections/opportunities right now.

    Because time is precious, I have to be selective. That’s why question two stands out for me: Does this opportunity take me in the right direction?

    If I can see myself enjoying the project; building creative expertise; succeeding in meeting my client’s expectations; and being fairly compensated, then it’s easy to say yes.

    By the way, I like your call to action: Need help finding a niche that fits you? Knowing your niche is one way to strip away confusion and clarify the best types of opportunities to accept.

    Reply
  5. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 17, 2008 at 4:57 PM

    Hi Amy!
    I used to think I was totally instinctual too. Then I realized that many of my decisions were natural to what I do. . . .
    I bet if you look closely at what you value, your got feeling is much like the information that I have listed here.

    Reply
  6. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 17, 2008 at 5:02 PM

    Hi Steve!
    Welcome! Any friend of Phil’s is most certainly not a stranger here.

    Blogger synchronicity must be what brought you around today. I hope that you stay excited about your discovery. 🙂

    Reply
  7. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 17, 2008 at 5:08 PM

    Hi Kristi,
    I was was once was in that same place. These days I’m working with clients who are, and they’re finding it gets in the way of setting a business that meets their goals. It only takes a slight shift in thinking to get to an entirely new career.

    Your choice to get real referrals to speak to before doing business is a great information gathering source for any decision of that kind. Moer folks should take that time. 🙂

    Reply
  8. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 17, 2008 at 5:15 PM

    Hi Barbara!
    I agree that we can be doing something that seems worthwhile when we are really going off in a direction that takes time away from the path we want to follow. It makes sense to consider whether what we gain in connections and ideas might make a short detour worth the time away.

    Thanks for the support. I’ve just finished helping two clients get their niche settled and their offers together. It’s fabulous work helping people relaunch what they do. 🙂

    Reply
  9. AmyL says

    February 17, 2008 at 10:25 PM

    One thing I’ve noticed in life is that there are rarely times when I truly have to make a decision in a hurry. Opportunities often are presented as “choose now….time is running out!!!” when that’s not really the case. Sometimes I am sure of my choice immediately, other times I am not. If I am not sure what to do in a situation, I wait and pray about it. If there’s extreme pressure to decide by a certain time I usually walk away. So far, new or even better opportunities have turned up. I haven’t done anything I regret so far.

    Reply
  10. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 17, 2008 at 11:19 PM

    Hi Amy!
    The urgency we feel around decisions is so often self-imposed. I try to remind myself that once the time arrives to make a decision, I’ll have the information I need to make it.

    Prayer, reflection, meditation all help us tap more resources.

    Reply
  11. Steph Stanton says

    February 17, 2008 at 11:31 PM

    I think your opportunity action test is great. It really is hard to recognize a genuine opportunity when it glimmers among all the muck of scams out there. Today I had the opportunity to join James Brausch’s intern program and actually utilized your action test to make the decision! It’s hard not go for free SEO software and actual real-world training, but I gave your steps a shot. It suits me, takes me in the right direction, the timing’s right, there’s no risk and I have learned valuable lessons even today, so of course there are clear benefits! I’m going to save this post to utilize whenever I get a great opportunity–thanks!

    Reply
  12. Tenders says

    February 18, 2008 at 7:27 AM

    Thanks, Liz, for this interesting post
    most my decisions were natural to what I do. . . .

    Reply
  13. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 18, 2008 at 7:35 AM

    Hi Steph!
    Most opportunities don’t look much when they come knocking, do they? Sometimes I think the bigger they look more hot air they contain. 🙂

    Wow! It’s very cool that you were able to use this to make a decision right away. 🙂

    Reply
  14. ME Liz Strauss says

    February 18, 2008 at 7:38 AM

    Hi Tenders,
    The best decisions are those that we’ve faced and thought through before. 🙂

    Reply

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