Ready for Your Shot?

Timing is tricky. In order to have a life that feels like it hums along and really works, it’s necessary to learn skills that help you to keep up with your goals and desires. You have to be reasonably ready for the opportunities you want when they come knocking, otherwise you don’t move forward. The challenge is that life is complex, with seemingly infinite numbers of moving parts to coordinate. It’s easy to be distracted and exhausted by less important factors before you invest your time and energy where you most want to—and that’s assuming you’ve been able to come to clarity on what you want in the first place.

Readiness requires work. I know this may not be what we all like to hear, but most of us don’t gain mastery at any skill set in a short period of time. It takes practice and the wisdom gained from experience over time to gain grounded confidence. Being willing to put in this work day after day, month after month, year after year, and so on, is a huge part of timing. “Overnight success” tends to happen to those who have done this unglamorous work in the background long before the spotlights and the acclaim showed up.

One of the most valuable skill sets that most of us don’t spend nearly enough time building is the constant acquisition of the knowledge and habits required to build and maintain our personal health and wellness, including physical fitness and vibrant energy as well as mental and emotional well being. You cannot excel when handed opportunities if you can’t get out of bed in the morning, right?

But the thing that probably frustrates humans more about timing than any other factor is the existence of all the elements we just can’t control. Earth is a pretty chaotic place, what with billions of people exercising free will to the best of their abilities all the time. Efforts to stand out, muster resources, find and team up with like-minded others, and keep all the basics of life spinning take a lot of doing. Sometimes external conditions seem prohibitive, or at least inhospitable. And when it seems like we’re not getting anywhere, we get frustrated.

We’ve all heard stories about people finding romance after long periods when such a thing seemed like it would never happen. Often, the timing of one or the other partner was such that they were in the midst of other occupations and not truly available until they finally came together. It may be that one or both seemed to wait forever, but eventually the waiting came to an end. Other areas of life are like this too. Sometimes the wait for the right conditions for success seems interminable and pointless. Yet if you fill your time as best you can, you are preparing for the moment that may yet arrive, even if well past your preferred due date.

Many things about life are mysterious. This may make us nuts, but we can never control everything—not even close! The best we can do is invest in ourselves and our goals, always learning and proceeding as best we can. There is no total certainty on this planet. We must manage our emotions around this if we wish to enjoy happiness despite never having absolutely everything we want. Because humans are pretty darn creative, it’s unlikely that you ever will. Learning to be ok with this and appreciate what you do have is at the core of allowing happiness in.

While you may feel that it’s hard to stand out among such a large population, the high number of others around you also offers you a high number of chances for collaboration. Sometimes finding the right partners or supporters makes all the difference in charting your course. As frustrating as it can be to wait for the right conditions for your success, you must keep going if you want it. Fill your downtime with friends, mental and emotional management techniques, fun, learning, and preparation, and when that chance arrives, you’ll be ready to latch onto it and make the very best of it. You can’t make timing work, but can make yourself ready—so do that! This is your part in supporting the magic of timing.

Who Do You Need to Become?

“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.”

— Ralph Marston

We all want opportunities. If you haven't defined goals for yourself, you might not be entirely clear on what the opportunities you'd most enjoy would look like, but I'm sure that there are certain kinds of offers that would delight you if they just showed up at your door. Once you have addressed clarification of the goals that most appeal to you, it makes sense to start cultivating a state of readiness for those perfect opportunities. After all, you can have all the opportunity in the world, but if you don't have the confidence and the skills to accept gracefully and follow through with competence, you're not likely to enjoy the kind of experience you crave.

Let's take a look at one of your goals. If someone offered you a chance at exactly what you want today, you would no doubt be excited. If you close your eyes and imagine this scenario with vividness, though, chances are you'll also come up with some misgivings as well.  Those might be something like, "I'm not ready," or "People will find out I'm a fraud," or "What if everyone says I'm terrible at this?"  This is a quick way of finding out what holds you back from taking appropriate action to prepare yourself for success, as well as of showing you reasons why you might be likely to sabotage yourself if and when the goal looks like it's getting too close.

Once you've spent a little quality time digging into this exercise, you can now make some choices about how to proceed. For instance, if you thought, "I'm not ready," now it's time to write out all the reasons why you're not. Really indulge here. We want to get all parts of you on board with moving forward toward that goal, so we really want to know all of the objections you're holding into. Who would you need to become physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in order to rock those opportunities you want when they show up?  Make this as clear a picture as you can, listing all the positive qualities you need to build in yourself in order to be ready—the opposite of what you currently worry that you are.  

Once you have that list of positive qualities, it's time to work on one or two so that you're building your readiness for your ideal future.  Sometimes you'll need to find yourself some appropriate education and a way to start building experience in a certain area. Sometimes you'll need help healing the effects of past experiences in some way. In any case, it usually helps to find some other people who can support you as you build your competence and confidence. Maybe you could really use a work partner, who will be working on their own goals and with whom you meet to share process and mutual encouragement. Maybe you just need a few people who can listen to your latest developments and cheer you on. Maybe you need professional consultation in some area. Whatever you decide, make sure that the people you choose to join your support system are positive and genuinely want you to succeed. Even a professional should help you to feel positive about yourself and the progress you're making; if they don't, perhaps they're not the right fit for you. There are also plenty of groups you can join if you're not sure you can find any of these in your current life.  

As you work on growing into new, positive qualities, you'll also want to consider this:  What are all the reasons why you haven't become that person you want to be, and why you may not be able to?  The answer to this is also golden as far as its ability to help you address factors that can trip you up.  If you don't address the things that surface in this category, your progress will be much more difficult than it needs to be.  The best way I know of to handle these worries and objections is through the use of EFT, which is incredibly effective at addressing mental and emotional resistance to progress.  I highly recommend that you learn the basics at least and get comfortable with them.  If any of this stuff is really dogging you, consider making a larger investment of time and energy in this work.  The payoff can be disproportionately huge.

It may also help you to take inventory of whether you tend to overprepare or underprepare. If you're not sure, ask your friends and coworkers, who will probably have some perspective to offer on this. Either way, you may need to circumvent your tendency when it comes to how to choose when to move on to a new aspect of work. Some people tend to admit their own progress very slowly and cautiously. Others habitually underestimate the preparation they'll need to perform with excellence when the chips are down. Either way, it's a good idea to check in periodically with someone who has expertise in your subject area to help you gauge realistically how you're doing in preparing for your specific goals. This will keep you moving forward at a reasonable rate without rushing past important milestones or getting stuck in endless contemplation of detail.

Because you will always be able to think of new goals as soon as you reach your current ones, this is a process that never ceases unless you want to become stale. Therefore, it's important to find ways to enjoy this constant learning process as well as the euphoria of reaching your goals. You can be both peaceful and content with the blessings you currently have, and fired up about the exciting future you're working toward. I encourage you to keep yourself tuned into the balance of these that you're creating for the most satisfying possible life. What can you appreciate, and what can you learn this week?  If you keep doing both, you'll keep making progress, and fueling your enthusiasm and energy so you can keep going, always improving your life and your enjoyment of it.