Should I take the opportunity? Why you should and why you shouldn’t

Sometimes in life you are presented with an opportunity, and you have to ask yourself, “should I take the opportunity, or should I not take the opportunity?”

It can be a really difficult thing to figure out, and can seem so overwhelming. It can feel like, if you make the wrong decision, then everything will go wrong and be unrecoverable. It can be scary to try something new because you like your current situation, and the unknown can be a scary thing. Or maybe you just like where you are and feel guilty about not taking an opportunity.

But sometimes you know that taking an opportunity might be a good thing. Sometimes taking opportunities presents you with new experiences and growth you wouldn’t get otherwise.

So what do you do when opportunity knocks? Do you take the opportunity or do you not? Well, let’s work through it.

What it means to take an opportunity

If you find yourself in a situation where something has been presented to you for you to do, you have been presented with an opportunity. An opportunity, though, doesn’t necessarily mean it is a good opportunity, or a good one for you. It’s just an opportunity.

Maybe you have been offered a promotion and a way to get out of a job you hate. Maybe you have been presented with the idea and ability to move. Maybe someone has asked you to do something more in line with your life mission.

Anything you have been presented with that is different from your current situation can be seen as an opportunity.

When taking an opportunity is a good thing

If you have found yourself stuck in a rut, or if you are stuck doing something you know you don’t want to do, then taking an opportunity that has presented itself to you is almost always likely to be a good idea. If you take the opportunity, then you will be presented with new experiences which can help you see things from a different perspective. This is almost always going to be a good thing. Even if it ends up being something you don’t want to do in the end.

Sometimes we get so engrained in our life setup, that we can’t see what else might be available to us. We lose the vision of what else could be. Imagine if you have been living in the same place for the last ten years.-You might now find it hard to see that you could ever live anywhere else. Your vision has been limited by this. But if an opportunity comes along for you to move elsewhere, then by doing that, your vision will expand. You will start to see other ways you can expand your life.

Likewise, if you want to move in a different, new, or forward progression with your job or career, then a new opportunity might help you to do that. At the very least, it will give you more experiences and ideas about what you do and don’t want to do.

That is when taking an opportunity might be good for you.

Is taking opportunities always a good thing? Can taking an opportunity be a bad move?

Sometimes people assume that opportunities are always good things. That’s simply not true. It’s important to not get caught up thinking that any offer presented to you is always a good one. Likewise, just because other people tell you something is a good opportunity, doesn’t necessarily mean it is for you.

Imagine that you want to be an artist – something people traditionally think of as an insecure job that does not pay much (if at all!). Well, people around you – family and friends that care about you, etc – may think that any other situation that presents itself to you is a “good opportunity” just because it pays well.

Let’s be very clear – they think it’s a good opportunity because it fits their world view of life. They like that it would be more secure, pay more, come with benefits, career progression, etc. But to you, the want-to-be-artist, it might present no opportunity. You might know that you need to go out and do your art and focus on that, not spend 10 hours a day doing a job that is completely unrelated.

What’s important when thinking about taking opportunities is knowing what your goals are. What is it you want to do? If you know what you want to do and where you want to go, then you will have an idea if an opportunity is worth taking or not.

In cases such as these – where you know what you want to be doing or should be doing – be careful of thinking that every opportunity presented to you is a good one. Seizing every opportunity is not always the best course of action.

Why taking opportunities is likely to give you better results

Now, another thing to think about is if you are merely scared to take the opportunity. Perhaps you are comfortable in what you are doing right now, or perhaps you fear not being good at the thing that has presented itself to you. Maybe it’s actually something you really want in life, and so it’s scary to think you might not be good at it.

Well, in that kind of instance, you must take the opportunity so that you get better and become more resilient to fear. Fear is the kind of thing you have to train yourself to stand up against and act in spite of. So if you are aware that you simply fear the opportunity for some reason – but still know that it is probably right for you – then you should go ahead and take the opportunity and start breaking the fear walls down.

Taking opportunities in this way will help you to grow as a person. If you step outside of your comfort zone and try new things, even if you are scared or fear failing, then you will expand yourself. You will be able to take on greater challenges in the future. More opportunities will present themselves to you. Soon, seizing opportunities will not be fear-inducing to you, but will be second-nature.

So get excited about taking opportunities that cause you fear, when you know the underlying opportunity is a good one for you to take.

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Should you always take the opportunity?

Let me say this right now – you should definitely not always take the opportunity. As presented above, “opportunities” don’t always have to be good for you, or right for you! They might look like good opportunities, but that might be for someone else. Being asked to do an internship at a hospital might be a great opportunity… for someone who wants to be a doctor. But if you want to be an actor, it’s not really going to help that much (unless, maybe, you have an audition for a medical drama!).

Likewise, if you are perfectly happy in your current city, and you get offered a job in another city miles away, away from your family and friends, and you know you would be sad about that even though it was for some prestigious company… Then that might not be a good opportunity for you, even though it might be for someone else.

And, remember – don’t let other people tell you something is a good opportunity, just because they like the idea of it. It’s not their life you are living!

How to know if you should take the opportunity or not

Whether to take an opportunity or not pretty much comes down to a gut-level decision. I am a big believer in making gut-level decisions rather than analytical ones, because I believe your gut is your body’s way of taking all the information it has, and distilling it down in to a decision without the long, drawn-out process of actually rationalising the decision.

You will know instinctively if taking an opportunity is the right thing for you or not. The trick is actually listening to that instinct. Usually it is your first, split-second reaction to something. Oftentimes, a voice or secondary feeling will come RIGHT after it. That’s the one to be ignored. Go with your first instinct, every time.

And if you really struggle with that when thinking about whether to take the opportunity in front of you, then fall back to rationalisation. As yourself if the opportunity will help you move forwards in what you want, if it excites you, or if it will simply give you more information than you currently have. Ask yourself if you are scared about it for some reason, but that you know if you can break though the fear then it will be good for you. Ask yourself if it sounds great for someone else… but not you. Ask yourself if you really want this opportunity. Then seize the opportunity, or find the next one.

Conclusion – Take opportunities when it’s right for you

Whether to take the opportunity you might be thinking about right now really comes down to knowing what you want in life. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What does your ideal career look like? What do you want to do with your life? Etc.

If you know the answers to questions about what you want, if you can define yourself, if you know what your life mission is, if you know what your aim in life is, then, when opportunity knocks, you know whether it might be good for you or not.

Once you know the answer, TRUST THAT. Don’t start second-guessing it.

Remember that taking a certain opportunity might be right for someone else, but not for you. Likewise, an opportunity that is good for you might not be right for someone else.

So remember that this is YOUR LIFE, and ONLY YOU know if an opportunity is right for you. Trust your gut – it knows the answer.

Further Reading

If you want to read more about making seizing opportunities a priority in your life, check out this post.

If you need some advice on knowing what your life mission is or on how to define yourself so that you know whether to take an opportunity or not, that post is for you.

Similarly, if you need some help on figuring out your aim in life, or want to know what to do with your life, check those posts out.

Have you found this post helpful? Please consider buying me a coffee!

It takes a great deal of work to put out this content and there are no ads on this site to help support it.

It would be great if you would consider buying me a coffee or tipping what you can to help keep the site running and helping people.

Thank you!

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