The universe works in mysterious ways. Opportunity is abundant; every day there is potential for one small thing to become a big change for your life. For every one of these life-changing opportunities that I’ve seized, I wonder about the ones I haven’t.
The most recent example: on Thursday, my research methods class had a guest speaker from Microsoft Research’s FUSE Social Media Lab. She spoke about some things that really interested me, and I approached her at the end of class to tell her about my work with UW Student Life and our potential to collaborate. She was interested, and agreed to continue our conversation.
I sent her an email shortly after, and she responded with an invitation to the lab to meet her and another researcher on Monday.
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If, on that Thursday morning, you had told me I would be meeting someone from Microsoft Research and invited to their labs, I would have thought you were crazy. Looking back, I could have easily missed this opportunity. I could have been indifferent about the talk, failed to see the opportunity to collaborate, or been reluctant to approach her. There are a multitude of reasons why things shouldn’t have worked out, but a handshake and brief conversation were all it took to make it a success.
There’s the saying “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” I agree, but I have something to add: Be Lucky. Luck doesn’t happen just to us, we can make ourselves lucky. When you take one of these everyday opportunities and make it something that moves your life forward, you are leveraging luck. Simply perceiving you are lucky will make you lucky.
Opportunity knocks everyday. Be lucky – open the door.
