Evaluating Opportunities: Part 2

As in part 1, our focus is on helping you avoid having your confidence shaken by missed or failed opportunities.  In the first segment we identified two important elements in evaluating opportunities:

1. Your ability to learn and adapt.
2. Your desire.

If you didn’t get a chance to read part 1, here’s the link Evaluating Opportunities: Part 1.

In part 2 we’re going to explore a series of questions designed to help you decide which opportunities are right for you and which to forgo.

Five questions

1. What do I want out of life?  Is it fame, fortune, a loving family, a comfortable life style?

We need this frame of reference to be able to make choices that are congruent with our nature…the core values and interests that make life fun and exciting.

2. Does this opportunity help me achieve this life?

If this opportunity isn’t going to help you achieve what you want from life, it’ll quickly become a chore.  When that happens you’ll either lead a miserable life or abandon the opportunity and feel like a failure in doing so.

3. What impact will choosing this opportunity have on my family?

One of the reasons we experience stress in our lives is that we make choices without regard to the impact it’s going to have on our loved ones.  You can avoid the pain, frustration and anger that typically ensue by simply making your loved ones a part of the analysis of any opportunity that presents itself.

4. How many lives can I favorably impact if I choose this opportunity?

In his book, The Go-Giver, Bob Burg says that our value is based upon the number of people we serve.  Choosing opportunities that help you gain the life your desire, and help a lot of other people as well, dramatically increases your value…to yourself and others.

5. What’s the likelihood that this opportunity will be available to me in the future?

We often look at opportunities as if they were water in the desert…that they evaporate if we don’t act quickly.  That’s rarely the case.  My experience is that if someone wants you involved in their initiative, it’s because you bring something special to the table.  When that’s the case, they’ll be happy to have you involved whenever the time is right for you.  If not, well then is this the person with whom you’d want to work on a regular basis?  Probably not.

For our kids

After your kids have embraced the fact that their real power is in their ability to learn and adapt and they’ve decided that, after evaluating what it will take to be successful, their desire is still there, hand them the five questions outlined above.

You’ll find that they not only make better choices, they become supremely confident in whatever choices they make.  Their success will increase their confidence, help them attract even more opportunities and enjoy all the best life has to offer.  Isn’t that what you want for your kids?

Increase your confidence, check out my weekly tip and exercise at TeachingConfidence.com.