So You Think You Want a Chance

By

Vicki Hinze

So you think you want a chance.  You have a dream. A goal. A passion.  Okay, then. That’s great. But what are you going to do about it?

It’s human nature to want what we want. We pretty much all do. But wanting and getting are two different things. So what do you want that you’re willing to work to get?  Be honest. This is your life you’re creating.

Simply put, we’re not all willing to do what we need to do to get a chance. Whether the chance is to do something we really want to do, or it’s to not do something we really do not want to do. That’s just a fact. Yet most of us do really want something. Maybe something different. Or something more. Or something we need to feel fulfilled and content with our lives.

Some wrongly deem our unwillingness to work toward getting what we want as a lack of ambition.  Sometimes that is true, but sometimes it is not.

Often, we’re facing the daily grind and we don’t get around to working at realizing our chance, which means we don’t always get our chance.  Simply put, we’re so tied up with the things we must do, we have no time for things we want to do.  That’s life in the real world where there’s no such thing as a free lunch. And we all know, we reap the harvest we sow.  No time to plant seeds means there’s no harvest.

That, as they say, is life.  It isn’t always fair, but no one promised it would be.  Bottomline, we make choices and we live with the choices we make. But—and this is important—we can at any time make different choices.

Let’s say, we might not be positioned to pursue our chance agressively, but we do still want it. Maybe we have other commitments or responsibilities and we can’t add additional duties to our schedules at this time. Our desire to succeed, to reach our goal and fulfill our dream—to get our chance—is intact. We just can’t focus on it right now. We lack time, energy, or resources. We are at a place in our lives where we must have other priorities—ones that can’t wait.  Does that mean we must we give up our chance for our dream?  Absolutely not.

Even when we can’t do it all, we can do something toward getting our chance.  We can take interim steps, even if they’re tiny ones, toward our goals. The really good news is it’s never too late to start. We can begin working toward a goal at any time, and every single, incremental step we make is progress.

So do what you can and be content with knowing you’re doing what you can do for now. Then, when your situation changes, get aggressive in your pursuit.

The truth is, even an unfair life doesn’t mean our desire for a chance is hopeless.  It just means it is up to us to maximize our opportunities to encourage that chance we want to manifest.  Question is, how do we do that?

What can we do to better our odds of getting the chance we want?

A lot of other people have tried to solve this same puzzle.  We don’t care about reinventing the wheel here, we just want a map.  So let’s look at what some of them said and see if we can apply their experience to our quest and get our chance.

1.  Thomas J. Watson said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

So to get a chance, prepare.  Do what you need to do to increase the odds of getting the chance you want.  Work harder, smarter, and keep pushing toward your goal. If you need a course to better position yourself based on competence, take it.  If you need a contact who is in a position to assist, network.  If you don’t know what to do, seek someone who has done it and ask him or her for advice.

What you cannot do is sit around and bemoan your lack of opportunity.  You must do what you can do to invite opportunity into your world, your life, and your future.

2.  Arnold Palmer said, “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.”

Some rely on luck, or genuinely believe that only luck can provide them the chance they want.  I sincerely doubt the first time Arnold Palmer picked up a club, he got a hole in one.  He practiced and practiced and then practiced some more.  He honed his skills.  And the more he honed, the better golfer he became.

The experience shared is this:  Decide what you want, then work at becoming the best you can be at it. Practice, study, learn from others, devote your effort to becoming an expert at whatever it is.  All those things put you in the right place at the right time for “luck” to find you.

3.  Ken Poirot said, “When life presents you an opportunity seize it!”

Too often we have an opportunity that isn’t our sought for chance so we don’t take it.  We fail to see that while this chance isn’t exactly the chance we want, it can better position us for exactly the chance we want.  These interim opportunities are like lining up ducks.  A leads to B leads to C.  Far too often we fail to get our chance at C because we insist on skipping A and B.

The lesson?  Any chance which moves you closer to your chance is a chance worth seizing.

4.  Greg Boyle said, “The business of second chances is everybody’s business.”

If you try and fail, be willing to try and fail again—and again.  This chance matters to you. It is significant.  It can change the direction of your life.  Something that important to you is worth pursuing until you succeed. So be willing to fail your way to success.

The thing about chances is they aren’t guaranteed. No one promises you’ll get the chance you seek. It’s up to you to create likely circumstances and conditions, to pursue your chance. Remember, persistence pays.

No one promises you’ll get a second chance. Again, it’s up to you to assess where your attempt fell short and to do what you can do to not repeat that mistake and to improve. Chances, like opportunities, are more often than not created. They tend to come about as a direct or indirect result of effort.

Few bother to tell you, “Fat chance.”  Most people are so involved in creating their own lives and chances they don’t think much about yours. Some will help you, yes. But it’s up to you to seek help and to help yourself.  A great way to help yourself is to help others. Think about that.

Many will forfeit their chance because they won’t commit to the work and effort it takes to get that chance.  If you want it, go for it. If it exists, find it. If it doesn’t yet exist, create it.  But never put yourself in park and wait for your chance to come to you.

In life, no one hangs out a sign and says, “Last chance.” And seldom do we know when something happens that it’s the last chance for it. That realization always comes later, with the clarity gained only in hindsight. So we must treat every chance as a last chance.  And we must acknowledge that there’s always a chance for another last chance so long as we’re striving for one.

The thing is, you create and sustain your own desire for your chance or second chance.  You might have to start over somewhere else, to step down a rung on the career ladder to gain better positioning.  You might have to move forward with tattered pride or eat humble pie.  At some time, everyone does, though few talk about it or even remember it, particularly if subsequently they’ve gotten their chance and reached their objective.

Here’s an important thing to remember.  It’s only your “last chance” when you say it’s your last chance.  Until you are ready to utter those words, continue your hot pursuit.  This personal choice is yours to make.  Don’t let that call be made by default.

Everyone who has ever seized their chance, at sometime during their journey to it, doubted they’d make it. They feared they wouldn’t, and they fought the nagging doubt that they could make it.  Maybe not out loud. Maybe now, they even say, “I never doubted it.”  But odds are the thought crossed their mind. They were just so determined they fought and vanquished fear and doubt.  To get your chance, you must battle and beat fear and doubt, too. Refuse to let fear and doubt hold you back. Think of them as thieves who will steal your chance if you let them. Then don’t let them.

Remember the words of Jim Rohn:  “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

We all want extraordinary lives. To feel content. Fulfilled. To matter. It’s our nature to crave those things.  Your chance is born in desire.  A desire never seizes us that exceeds our ability to attain it.  We either have what we need to make that chance manifest, or we have the ability to get what we need to make it manifest.  Know it, believe it, never doubt it.

Hear and listen Paulo Coelho’s wise words:  “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”

Chances reside in what we prepare for, what we practice, what we see as opportunities… and in allowing the unexpected to capture our imaginations, captivate us, and convince us that this unexpected thing is our chance. That seizing it will make for claiming an extraordinary life.

And a last word on experience shared and embraced: Define extraordinary for yourself. Don’t allow others to define it for you. This is your chance at your extraordinary life. The life you are seeking. Only you should define it.

So if you still think you want a chance, learn from the experiences of these others who have walked down this road before you. Do what worked for them, see if it’ll work for you. Alter your course as needed, don’t give up, keep seeking opportunities.  Odds are high you’ll see many more chances come your way… including the one you’ve earmarked as yours.

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© 2017, Vicki Hinze. Vicki Hinze is the award-winning bestselling author of nearly thirty novels in a variety of genres including, suspense, mystery, thriller, and romantic or faith-affirming thrillers. Her latest release is The Marked Star. She holds a MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Theocentric Business and Ethics. Hinze’s website: www.vickihinze.com. Facebook. Books. Twitter. Contact. KNOW IT FIRST! Subscribe to Vicki’s Monthly Newsletter!

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