Creating Opportunities in the 21st Century

(This is part one of a five-part series focusing on finding opportunities and creating ideas in this hectic, high tech modern age. The first four parts of this series focus on spotting opportunities and the last part concentrates on effective ways to come up with solid ideas.)

Introduction

In order to create opportunities in the 21st century the first requirement one needs is the ability to deal with change. In order to create winning ideas and find opportunity in any field - you must be an action-oriented observer of this change.

In the hectic pace of life today with satellite TV, the Internet, cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers - everything happens with ever-increasing rapidity. This quick, constant change has invaded our work life as well.

The days of finding a job with a giant corporation and making a career until you retire 30-40 years later are over. A thing of the past, just like the hula hoop, sock hops and disco. The modern day worker will change jobs/careers at an astounding rate of nine or ten times in a working life.

Security at one place for an entire career is over. But it's not all doom and gloom. Starting your own business is easier and filled with more opportunities then any in history. Thanks to the Internet - the price to play the self-employment game has gotten a lot cheaper as well.

Domain name registration and hosting are more affordable then ever and individuals who can spot trends, create ideas and notice opportunities can literally be up and running their own business within hours or days, depending on the complexity of their idea. People that spot trends, create ideas and notice opportunities can name their price to the world and the world will pay it.

As you can see, the ability to do this is more important than ever. Finding these opportunities is a skill, but like any skill it can be learned and mastered. Provided you know what the fundamentals are.

There are four major concepts one must use to become a world-class opportunity finder. The rest of this article will focus on the first concept.

The First Concept for Finding Opportunities

The first principle for finding opportunities in a world of constant change is - look to your own interests, beliefs and education.

The first place to start finding opportunities is within you. Opportunities abound in your hobbies, what you like to read and love to spend the majority of your time doing. Many go looking outside themselves for answers when everything they need is within.

Having a true passionate interest is the highest form of specialized knowledge and specialization is the order of the day in the Information Age. You may think of it as just a hobby, but the key to a new level of experience, satisfaction and abundant living may be waiting for you.

One of the most powerful weapons to have in your opportunity/idea discovering arsenal is the passion for self-education. High schools and university only go so far - self-education is one of the foundations for true and lasting success. The majority of successful people attribute the love of life-long learning as a key factor to their achievements.

Learning doesn't stop when school ends and that's a dangerous assumption to make when it comes to forging a successful life. You must continue learning until life ends. Active learning and experience are the only ways to grow and adapt.

Be an active learner. Read and read a lot. Not just what you're passionate about. Grab the newspaper and look for stories that may contain ideas and opportunities. Believe me, they won't be on the front page, that's where the sensational stuff is and all that does is sell papers. Go to the inside, where the real knowledge is buried.

Read books. And yes, I mean non-fiction and biography. I guarantee that gold can be found in their pages if you just look for it. Study, develop your specialized education and look to your interests and hobbies for inspiration, ideas and opportunities.

Don't forget, ideas come after long hours of careful thought and study. And from those ideas come opportunities. Be patient waiting for your ideas. There is no such thing as a completely formed and perfect idea. Rarely, if ever, do ideas come in a flash of inspiration. Ideas come a little a time, in bits and pieces.

Opportunity arrives because of ideas and as such, behave the same as ideas. Here a little, there a little. Patient study and observation are the watchwords of an idea maker and opportunity chaser. In time, if you persist, your hard work will be rewarded.

Look inward. This is the first step on the path to creating innovative ideas and finding rock-solid opportunities in a constant and never-ending sea of change.

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