When people hear about the opportunities that I have had in my life, they sometimes say that I have been “so lucky.” There may be some truth in that, but I believe there is more to the story. They say that opportunity knocks–I don’t disagree with that statement, but I do believe that opportunity doesn’t come knocking on your door at home. I think that you have to prepare for opportunities. Then you must do something more than sit on the couch and wait. Finally, you must be open to opportunities when they find you.

In the video today, I talk about one opportunity and then write about another opportunity below.

[If you want to learn more about the Delta Model of Lawyer Competency, there is a pinned tweet with links to many articles on our Twitter profile page (@deltamodellawyr)].

A more personal opportunity happened while I was living in Japan. While returning home from Japanese class one night, I said good evening (in Japanese) to a woman as I passed. She stopped in her tracks and grabbed me by the hand. I don’t remember what was said, but I ended up in her house a few minutes later. From this brief interaction, I gained a friend and my children gained a Japanese grandmother. You see, she was terribly lonely after just moving to the area. Her husband was a prominent businessman that was always away on travel. She had studied English for years, but had never really had the opportunity to speak with a native speaker. The next three years were such fun as she introduced me to a side of Japan that I would never have seen. She even came to visit once we returned to the States.

My point is that this chance meeting would never have happened if I had stayed home. By taking Japanese (prepare), saying hello (doing), and going to her house (being open) I gave opportunity a chance to find me.

Now, I am preparing for my next opportunity by going to law school. By engaging in this experiment, I am doing something. And I am certainly open (and looking) for whatever opportunity comes next! So, what do you think, are my experiences simply luck?

See more on the Video Per Day Experiment in my introductory post.