Vetnews | Mei 2024 38 « BACK TO CONTENTS I hope this article finds you and your families well and safe!!! Last month we discussed losing one of my colleagues and friends due to suicide. This month I want to look at opportunities and why they may not happen for some of us. The work environment has become very competitive, and I constantly see people working very hard for a long time, looking for that golden opportunity to make that significant change in their own lives. Some people get opportunities, and sometimes more than one. While others work, for sometimes an entire lifetime, never to progress much. Question: How do you prepare the way for opportunity? Imagine you were living in a house with the purpose of entertaining visitors. It can be a restaurant, a club, an arcade, or anything else that you can think of. Think of yourself as that house right now. Look in the mirror and describe what you see. Extend that very same exercise to what you look like in your working world. Maybe ask a few people that work in your environment to give you that feedback. Are the people looking at you find you inviting and engaging? Are you interesting to look at? Some recommendations: if you want to be noticed, make sure your activities are visible, especially activities with colleagues/clients/customers. Chances are, if other people are seeking your services or help, the right person will be curious enough to ask for your help too. Have a look at all your colleagues that you regularly interact with. Think about how much you know about each one individually. Think about their names, what they do, where they live, whether they are married or not, whether they have children and what their children’s names are, what aspirations or goals they have, their favourite food or colour, etc. Opportunity knocks for those willing to share a bit of their private selves. I have met individuals who want to remain stubbornly private in an increasingly transparent world, and although there is place for privacy, it is possible to share what would offer you an advantage. A simple example is found in local restaurants that print their history on the table placemats or the front of their menu. This simple act of transparency creates a deeper experience by inviting patrons to become part of their narrative. It also makes waiting for the food a bit more bearable. A bit of transparency goes a long way. Think back to when you called a bank, an insurance firm, or maybe the municipality. You have a purpose in mind, and all you need is to get an answer so that you can make progress. Instead, you are asked to put in account codes, answer security questions, press this number and then press that number. It’s infuriating. All you want to do is talk to somebody instead of a machine. People trying to contact you might feel the same way about contacting you. Simplify your contact process. Make it easy for anybody to find out who you are, what you do, or where they should go. Make it easy enough that a child could do it. I have had my fair share of travelling and staying in hotels. Some of them, made me feel welcome instantly, while others did not. As soon as we drive into their parking lot, the people working there strive to make people feel welcome from the very first second of their hotel experience. Clear signs, competent parking attendants, clean facilities, and more are a top priority. It’s no wonder opportunity keeps knocking at their door and these hotels do better than others. Do the same, and opportunity will come back to you time and time again. It is also possible that for some of us, opportunity may have come to knock on our door, and we failed to answer the call. In those cases where the mistake has been noticed, it may be easier to rectify. If you fail to answer the door, opportunity may give you the benefit of the doubt and come back another time. In other occasions, that same opportunity may not come around again. There is an old saying that says, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity.” Sometimes that opportunity lasts a few days, sometimes it’s a few seconds. Make sure you don’t make a habit of not returning calls, emails, or inquires outside the window of opportunity! Next month, we will continue looking at more ideas for improving our quality of life and overall performance both at work and at home. v Influential Life Coaching WAS THAT AN OPPORTUNITY I MISSED? Dr Mats Abatzidis B.Sc. B.V.Sc. New Insights Certified VIP Life Coach mats.abatzidis@yahoo.co.za Founder of Influential Life Coaching http://www.matsaba.wix.com/drmatscoach Author of the published book “Life outside your comfort zone. Better and beyond all expectations”. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=searchalias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Abatzidis http://www.life-coach-directory.co.za/mats-abatzidis Vet's Health I Life Coaching 24-Hour, Toll-Free Helpline: 0800 21 21 21
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