We will open a book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put our words on it. The book is now called ‘Opportunity’.Opportunity comes to all of us. Choice is something that we can decide for us, which is completely in our hands to choose. The wise ones catch hold of it and the foolish ones let it pass. When our vision is true, we realise that many opportunities have come our way and we have let them pass.

It happens that when opportunities knock at our doors, we are either ‘out’ or sleeping ‘in’. The incompetent only grumbles that he could have done much better had the circumstances been different. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity while an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. A dynamic person marches to victory by acting right then. He does not broad over his last opportunities and does not worry about the future ones. He uses the present opportunity to the fullest with the experiences of the past and dreams of the future ones and strides towards the glory of success, for ‘every small effort continuously and cheerfully put forth leads one to successes’.

We continually face great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems. Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognised a problem and it turned into an opportunity. Success is sure to the sincere seeker. Therefore, it is a must that we recognise the opportunity, and while it’s still within our reach, we grab it, venture on it and get the demanded results.

If you have built castles in the air, don’t worry; lay the foundation now and work on it. You may not be alert but awake: exploit your opportunity and feel the air of success. Breathe it in the air and make it your life. If opportunity doesn’t knock then build a door instead of blaming the fate. Don’t be an unproductive person who manages to see only difficulties at every opportunity. Opportunity knocks but doesn’t always answer to its name. Spit the seeds of difficulties and be creative with sheer determination to be successful since. Remember, you will only have one chance to do something important or profitable. “Success is not in the trophy won but in the race to run.”

(The writer studies Integrated MCA at the Utkal University, Bhubaneswar)