Don’t Wait for Opportunity to Knock

This morning I was reading “Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message” By Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump on my subway ride to work. The book is basically these two great business minds writing about why they want people to be rich and why people getting rich is for the greater good of the country.

They talk about the economic situation in the United States and how the deficit is constantly growing and digging a hole that the country won’t be able to get out of. Kiyosaki mentions his favorite example that Baby Boomers are starting to retire now and are entitled to Social Security and Medicare but the government doesn’t have enough money to cover it all.

Don’t Wait for the Opportunity to Come to You

One thing that jumped out at me was when Donald Trump was giving advice to college students. He said that “There is a lot to know in this world… if you want to be a major player in the world arena, pay attention and go the extra mile – every single day. Don’t wait for the opportunity to come to you.” He quotes Louis Paster who says “Chance favors the prepared mind”.

The way to get lucky is to go the extra mile and find the opportunity. Every once in a while opportunity comes your way and it is up to you to grab it and take advantage of the luckortunity. But, to be a major player and get lucky every day, you need to go out and find the opportunity in the world – anywhere you can.

Trump suggests reading the newspaper every single day and keeping up with international affairs. Kiyosaki mentions that the first thing every morning, he needs to know how the foreign markets did and what happened while he was asleep.

Find your Passion

If you are very passionate about something, it is automatic that you will check up on it as often as you possibly can and maybe even more often. A student checks daily on his science fair project to see if his hypothesis was right. A blogger checks his stats every other hour. A successful businessman checks his financials regularly. I am not saying to obsess over your passion and check up on it more than you need to and thereby waste a lot of time. I am saying find a passion that will get you where you want to be and obsess on moving forward.

If the student sees his science project isn’t going as planned, he will do something about it. If the blogger’s stats start to drop, he will put more effort into building his blog. If a businessman sees a problem in his financials, you can be sure that he will jump to remedy the situation.

Go out of your way to learn and know what is going on in the world, become passionate about being informed and luck will start coming your way.