Introduction: Opportunity by Eben Pagan
When you hear the word opportunity, what images come to mind? What does having an opportunity mean to you? When opportunity knocks do you grab it? Learn more in Opportunity by Eben Pagan
In the past year or so, a few opportunities slipped by because I wasn't responsive enough. And they were great opportunities. When I tried to act on them later, I discovered that the window of opportunity had closed. I learned some tough lessons and these days I respond a lot faster. In today’s world, professionals and the companies they work for have to be agile and responsive if they expect sustained success.
A few years ago, a friend told me that she read a great book, titled, Opportunity by Eben Pagan. The title intrigued me so I borrowed it from the library. The book is excellent, but not what I expected. To be frank, I wasn't sure what to expect from a book such as this. But I was glad that I invested the time to read it. Having read the book, I realize that any of us can create our own opportunities with a little guidance. That’s what the book helps you to do.
Oxford Dictionary Definition of Opportunity
“A set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.”
Opportunity is Always Knocking
McKinsey Global Institute released the report, The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation. Artificial intelligence technologies will have a devastating impact on women. Many of these women will have to up-skill if they want to take home a salary.
“Between 40 million and 160 million women globally may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. To weather this disruption, women (and men) need to be skilled, mobile, and tech-savvy, but women face pervasive barriers on each, and will need targeted support to move forward in the world of work.”
When you first read the above statistics, they may have sounded very alarming. However, if you reflect on it for a minute, you may figure out how to turn a lemon into lemonade. In Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
, the author, Tim Harford emphasizes that with every new technology, there are winners and losers. The statistics above emphasize the losing piece, but what if you decided to upskill, to ensure that you are part of the winning team? You would have created an opportunity for yourself.
Have you read?
Review: Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
In Opportunity by Eben Pagan, he writes that opportunity is potential value. And that makes a lot of sense to me because you have to act on opportunities to be able to benefit from them. And you have to act on them in a timely manner.
When Opportunity Knocks: Things You Need to Know
Let’s talk about when opportunity knocks. You’ve heard the phrase window of opportunity many times, but what exactly does it mean? It’s the intersection of an idea with technology. Windows of opportunity change faster today, so you have to seize and run with it. I learned that lesson the hard way. A great opportunity should benefit you personally in a meaningful way and also be an overall contribution to social and ecological good.
We’re moving from the me, me, me world into an us, us, us one. We need to help others while helping ourselves. And we need to think about how our actions tie into the greater good. For me, my mission is to get 5,000 people reading a book a week. And it’s not just reading any book, it’s reading the right books. The information in books has lifted people out of poverty. This won’t be easy to do, but it can be done.
Back to when opportunity knocks. Great places to look for opportunities are by studying the news and reading books. And also when there is change or stagnation. However, you may not be able to quite figure this out easily. You need a roadmap and I recommend that you use Rohit Bhargava’s Haystack Method. Following the process outlined enables you to see what others miss.
5 Components of the Haystack Method
- Gathering: Collect stories and ideas from the news and the diverse books you read that span multiple disciplines.
- Aggregating: Take individual ideas and disconnected thoughts and group them together based on bigger ideas. Add meaning to the ideas and stories you find.
- Elevating: What interests you most about the idea? What is below the surface? What is the bigger picture?
- Naming: Describe an elevated idea in an easy to understand and memorable way.
- Proving: Find concrete research to determine why the idea does indeed describe an accelerating present.
The good thing about using the Haystack Method is that it makes it easier for you to see what others miss. This happens because when you gather data you’re doing so across several disciplines. If you remember, the window of opportunity is the intersection of an idea with technology. Do you see how things are coalescing?
Eben Pagan advises people to study the news and read books to spot opportunities. As you can see what I’ve done, it’s taking it one step further and reading books across multiple disciplines to have a broader perspective and find better and more disparate ideas to play with.
Opportunity by Eben Pagan: When Opportunity Knocks: Emergent Opportunities
Take what's available, then combine them in new ways to create something on a higher order. Say for instance you study the news and read diverse books. If you’re using the Haystack Method, you’ll be combining disparate ideas and elevating them into better and more encompassing ideas. Emergent opportunities arise when you start aligning the ideas with a human need.
Pagan invites us to think about the skills that become more valuable over time. I think soft skills become more valuable over time. He also suggests that as you learn a new skill and become competent in it, it’s important to integrate it with another skill. This allows you to stack skills.
You can create opportunities for yourself by building an information business.
Build an Information Business
The following are the kinds of activities Eben recommends for using an information business to create opportunities. These activities will also give you exposure to a wider audience.
- Write a book
- Do seminars or webinars.
- Coach and consult
- Produce digital products
- Do a podcast
- Make a news site or service
- Write a blog
When Opportunity Knocks: Ideal Experiential Learning
This teaches you something that you will use to create the future you want to live in. And it makes you become more valuable over time. Additionally, it prepares you for the next level of opportunity so you recognize it and have what you need to get a great start. Imagine that as you’re learning, you’re applying the ideas right away, acting on the opportunities that come your way.
People learn by doing!
Section of Opportunity by Eben Pagan That I Found Valuable
I found many nuggets of wisdom while reading Opportunity by Eben Pagan. However, what do you think of the following questions to ask yourself? I thought that was brilliant on Pagan’s part. I’m using the following three as examples because they resonated deeply with me.
- Where is the greatest opportunity in my mind, how can I avoid boredom and create more learning, growth, and meaning to my life?
- Where's the greatest opportunity in my environment? How can I avoid failure and create success, and a surrounding that inspires me?
- Where it's the greatest opportunity to make a contribution? How can I avoid suffering and create success and joy for all people?
To avoid boredom, I read different genres and I hop across disciplines. Doing this stimulates my mind. I’ve let go of a few people from my life. I wish them the best, but they do not allow me to grow and blossom into who I can become. I’m changing my environment in many ways, because over the years, I’ve discovered the situations that make me flourish. I’m working on the best ways to make a contribution. And for me the first place is by teaching leadership reading and through my membership site the Art of Learning Leadership Academy. I want people to profit from their reading time.
When opportunity knocks again, how will you respond?
Next Steps
Wondering what to do next, you can do all of:
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Buy my new book, Leadership Reading: Spilling the Tea on How Top Leaders Read
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If you want to Consult 1:1 about Effective Reading Strategies
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Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
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Join the Art of Learning Membership Site
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Download Unlock Your Genius Power Reading Tips Sheet
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Buy me a cup of coffee!
If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning.
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