Image credit: @qinomo via pixabay.

Yeah! the title is actually a question...we all know that phrase "opportunity knocks but once" but do we ever ask ourselves wether it only comes once?

First of all the thing about opportunity is that you've got to be prepared for it. If an opportunity comes to you and you're not prepared, we often term that as "missed opportunity" or "wasted opportunity".

Don't worry we'll talk about "Preparation" later...In the meantime let's talk about "opportunity "

Opportunity

According to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary, OPPORTUNITY is an amount of time or situation for you to do something that you want to do.
To me it's more like a "chance".

Secondly we will look at the term "preparation"

Preparation

In this context, PREPARATION can be defined as the process of making yourself ready for something that you'll be doing OR something that you'll expect to happen.

Now let's add the both terms together...Preparation + Opportunity .

Preparation for Opportunity

Preparation for an opportunity, is the work you put in, with the mindset that you'll get a chance to showcase yourself or a particular skill on a given stage at a given time.
So therefore if you're not prepared, and an opportunity comes by, you can only call it a wasted opportunity.

Take for instance a professional footballer, in training they prepare for what they know or think that they'll face on the football pitch.
He/She prepares for what they expect.

Take for instance a striker on the football pitch, he has probably done series of preparations and training before getting on the pitch to play, he's going to be expecting crosses or passes from his teammates, and when the crosses or passes comes to him, that's he's OPPORTUNITY, there's a 90% chance he'll be able to convert that cross or pass to a goal.

Now put someone that's not a footballer, let's say a surgeon or an astronaut in that striker's position, whenever a cross or a pass comes to him, there's a slim or 0% chance that he'll be able to convert it to a goal.
Why is that? Because they are not prepared for such situations, they are only prepared for what the specialize in, and vice versa.

Now let's go back to the title, does opportunity really knocks but once? I don't think so...and I don't also think that opportunity knocks forever...there's always a limited time for every opportunity.

Let's still use a football striker for instance, don't know why I love using football for my instances, lol. Guess I'm a solid football fan. Ok let's get back to the conversation.
A football striker has ninety minutes to convert his chances to goals, or even less because he could get subbed off during the game.

So you see...if the striker fails to convert all the chances he gets when he's still on the pitch, he only has himself to blame, except there's a case where his teammates don't pass the ball to him, or give him meaningful crosses. Other than that, he only has himself to blame.

In Conclusion

As long as you remain prepared, when an opportunity comes by, you ought to use it wisely, and if you try your best and it doesn't work out the way you prepared for it, all you have to do is remain prepared and be ready to get the best from your next opportunity.

Remember, opportunity doesn't knock forever, so try to get the best out of it when it comes by.

[4/1/2022]