New Era Newspaper

New Era Epaper
Icon Collap
...
Home / Opinion: Risking Opportunities

Opinion: Risking Opportunities

2019-09-18  Staff Reporter

Opinion: Risking Opportunities

Stick around long enough and you are likely to see an opportunity that has been lingering under your nose. Take the risks and you are likely to see an opportunity in the thick of things.

Basically, opportunities are always around, some are obvious, some are hidden and others come with conditions. But they are always around.

In recent times I have come to accept and understand that not all opportunities are meant to be taken up and explored, not every shining object is worth the trouble. The youth are known to generally not heed the advice of the elders, they don’t know what the elders know and in some cases, the elders lose touch with the youth. What the elders have is experience, an experience that comes with age and not necessarily from their acts.
Something I picked up as opportunities come by, is that for every opportunity one takes up, they close down the door to more opportunities. Which isn’t necessarily something to frown upon, but it’s nothing to smile about either. This is where the elder’s experience comes in, can you imagine the opportunities they have seen, missed or acted on. They will be better equipped to distinguish good ones from useless ones. 

Tim Ferriss once said that the default answer to most requests should be no. With opportunities especially about work, the default response should be no, not all opportunities should be explored. You are better off with quality over quantity. They will never stop coming your way.

Everyone has their ways and methods of flittering through ideas, projects, deals and other possible opportunities they come across. Some are terrible and others are terrific, but the default and standard checklist should start with saying no, before reviews and so on.

We have youth on our side, a period in our lives that allows us to absorb as much as we can and to learn much more than school can ever teach us, when opportunities come your way and you take them up, learn to make the best out of them, that’s how we can get the experience of our elders.

In the end, it doesn’t matter much what happens, some save you the trouble and others give you trouble, but stick with it long enough and you will find opportunities within opportunities.

So don’t necessarily jump at the first chance that pop-ups, cause even if you were wrong the next best opportunity is right around the corner.

*Olavi Popyeinawa has a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law, LLB at the University of Namibia. He writes on youth matters. Twitter: @ OlaviPopyeinawa and olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com 


2019-09-18  Staff Reporter

Tags: Khomas
Share on social media