Delphic Maxim #10

Maxim #10 – Know Your Opportunity / Know the Critical Moment

How can we identify opportunities? This is a skill like any other that can be learned, practiced, and strengthened for both personal and professional applications.

We can look to those who have done it before. As Tony Robbins often says, success leaves clues. Take Grant Cardone for example.

In his article The 4 Actions You Must Take to Find Your Opportunity, he advises not to look for an industry, but rather for the opportunity – the circumstances that make your goal possible.

Look for opportunity – you must actively seek opportunity to be able to see it.
Be willing read and research – knowledge is power and key to spotting opportunity.
You have to go for it – you must leave where you are comfortable.
Make contacts – the more people you know, the better your network of opportunity.

Your research may include:

Economic trends
Social and cultural trends
Technology advancement
Regulatory implications

The SWOT [Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats] method is another approach to evaluate both threats and opportunities, along with the corresponding risks.

Note that risks are not necessarily bad.

There is risk with both action and inaction. It comes down to measurement of the drivers for positive and negative outcomes.

Above all when starting a business or seeking a career, you must solve a problem for people – fill the gap in the marketplace with your own brand of skills and experience. The opportunity is there for you.

The 147 Delphic Maxims [as cited by Stobaeus] are ancient guidelines and advice for living a proper and happy life. They are enduring and eternal in many aspects, although one must consider the times in which they were written and adapt the language accordingly.

They remain an important legacy of human history and continue to provide wisdom for the ages. The maxims live because they have been preserved, reiterated, and reinterpreted throughout the oral and written traditions of the Hellenic world – not as absolutes, but as living guidance.

Stobaeus was a Greek writer from about 500 A.D. Clearly a well-read scholar in his day, he managed to safeguard much of the prose and poetry of ancient Greece. To him we owe a great debt.

Download all the Delphic Maxims in a colorful PDF – click here.