Good morning, today I have a guest post from CJ for you! Let me know if you would like to guest post on RFI.
CJ Renzi is a classical guitarist, writer, and blogger whose book, The End of Wishing Our Days Away, has just been released. Find out more about him at www.hoombah.com and on Twitter @Hoombah.
Have you ever let the big one get away? Missed the boat? Looked a gift horse in the mouth? Dropped an iron in the fire? Effed up an occasion?
What a noxious notion. If we were to dwell on all those times when we should have, would have, could have said yes, the tsunami of regret would smash us and pull us under never to be seen again. But what if we were somehow able to stack the deck so that when the big one swam by we were in the perfect position to snatch it?
Here, I speak of the deliciously tempting and plump morsel and the moment we spring into action and take what is ours! But there are at least 43 reasons that we are unprepared to snatch and savor. Perhaps the timing is poor, there is a lack of funding, Aunt Dorothy is in town and we promised mother we’d have her over for dinner. For all one knows, it is the norm to have all these impediments at once.
The ambush predator is somehow always ready. Now, wouldn’t that be nice? Perhaps the time has come to take a lesson from our animal friends? In many cases they are smarter than we are. Many, many cases.
The Monks of the Animal World
Many animal species have a knack for the inventive use of cover to surprise and capture their prey. These masters of deception and economy range from trapdoor spiders to snapping turtles to octopi. It is my wont and duty to love them all, and I do with an intense passion. If they let me, without losing a limb, being injected with venom, or having my final breath unceremoniously squeezed out of me, I would kiss them.
The trapdoor spider in Malaysia waits in its burrow. It pounces on prey that sets off tripwires encircling the burrow. The prey is then dragged into the burrow where it can be enjoyed at the spider’s leisure. We, much like the trapdoor spider, are in our burrow blogging, writing books, and practicing the classical guitar. But unlike the spider, we are not bothered by having to set trip wires and we lack that kind of craftiness anyhow.
We do not actually eat our prey although the Hoombah is a fierce and dangerous species. Rather, we allow ourselves to be consumed by it. It is precisely because we spend so much time in our lair refining our crafts and keeping matters simple that we are game when good fortune shows itself.
Content in Our Lair
Curiously, when I went to search about what happens inside the trapdoor spider’s lair, aside from dining on their prey at leisure, I came away with no information. Perhaps no one knows. Surely there must be some arachnologist or entomologist that got their tiny cameras inside a lair and gleefully observed the predator’s habits. One bit of information I do recall reading is that their quarters are incredibly tight, just wide enough for their comfortable passage. Seems a rather simple life. Perhaps they are simply very content in there. Subsequently, when they emerge, they are able to do what it is they need to do, what they are supposed to do. They do not deliberate, hem and haw, dilly-dally, hesitate, or spin their wheels. They feed.
Like our better skilled animal friends, we waste little time deliberating over nonsense. An opportunity is either worthy or not. They have become increasingly easy to spot, perhaps even a mile away. And so have plums or complete wastes of our efforts. Does the tiger dive into the stream for a minnow? Does the Python coil itself about a grasshopper? Does the falcon swoop down from the heavens to snatch a berry? I am not really sure as I am not a zoologist or biologist, but to the falcons: berries are well worth the trouble and ought to be considered, nutritious and delicious!
Though it has not always been the case, we were able when it was time to move from New York to Houston, all systems go when we wanted to open our own businesses, primed to begin a blog, and of a mind to write a book. The Big One is unlikely to get away next time and Aunt Dorothy will have to dine with mother dear.
How do you, Jolly Reader, make sure you are prepared for opportunity?
This post was featured on the Barbara Fried Berg Personal Finance, Canadian Budget Binder, thank you!
Good question. We have a good amount of savings, which serves as a security blanket but is also available if an opportunity arises the requires some money. Beyond that, to be honest I wouldn’t say I have a specific plan to be ready for opportunities. I think continually learning new things and building up existing skills are ways to help you prepare for whatever comes next.
Matt! Thanks a bunch for leaving a comment! A good amount of savings, as you say, is a dandy way to prep oneself for opportunity. But the learning and the burgeoning skill set will give all that bling a purpose! Have a breezy one!
I think the best way to make sure you are ready for an opportunity is to make sure you are at least OPEN to opportunities in the first place. It’s so easy today to have our 5- and 10-year plan of where we want to be that we miss amazing opportunities that are right in front of our face. I think fear plays into it too; many people are afraid to take advantage of opportunities because it leads to uncertainty.
DC! Thanks a million for leaving a comment! Ah, the joy and boons of risk-taking! Yes, I have all but done away will long-term planning and goals in general. I agree, the long-term stuff can be downright stifling and when we don’t end up where we expected, we are crestfallen. Not very Jolly. Have a fabulously fearless day, DC!!!
Over the past few years, Holly and I have gotten fairly good at learning to spot opportunities and seizing them. As DC said, you have to be open to finding them first. Also, if you start saying “yes” to almost every opportunity, you’ll find that a lot more of them open up to you. Then you can be more discriminatory.
Greg & Holly (isn’t the ampersands under-utilized these days?) Thanks a ton for leaving a comment! Ah, and such a fine point: you blow up the opportunity locker, right? Then you have opportunities all over the freakin’ place and you’re fighting off the falcons and pythons, then you take only the best morsels and leave the rest to the cuddly critters!
Brilliant! Love your thinking. Discerning can only happen against the backdrop of abundant choice. Have a super Thrifty day, you two!
You have to be able to see them and pounce on them. For me this has come over time since I have missed a few goods while some great ones. I am willing to say yes or no within a few days of thinking about it. Hours if needed. I have come to understand that some will work and others will fail. This allows me to take the opportunity or chance when there. At least knowing where you want to be or go helps in life but like DC mentioned don’t be so head strong that you miss other opportunities.
Thomas!!! Thanks a googol for leaving a comment! DC is easy to agree with, no? But Thomas, you hit on a crucial matter yourself. The regret. Tammy and I spent more than a decade floating about on auto-pilot, mindless, eating enough burritos to turn into one and hoping for Clay to simply have a chance against Ruben to win American Idol. Most of 1998-2008 was a black hole of existence. What if we started getting fit and serious about what we ate and gave our finances a peek or started our blog or a book or anything???? See? But we are happy that we’re getting our licks in now;)
Hope you find and pounce on a marvy opportunity today!
So nice to see you all guest posting! Although it is counter to my behavior these days, not saying “no” to extra side hustles opens us up to opportunity. Also, not being the person who sticks with the job description as it reads. An emergency fund always helps…
Tony!!! Thanks to you for leaving a comment! Tis nice, Tony and a barrel of fun to boot. You know, I’d really like to build our income on a series of side hustles and I suppose that is precisely what we’ve done. We have the studio, but that is really two side hustles run out of the same office, then I have two low-impact community college gigs and Tammy does some consulting. Cool, right? I’ve had the big, life consuming job. No chance for opportunity there save jeans day and pot luck.
Your second pint is exactly why and how we are now working for ourselves. And finally, from the genius of the PF crowd, it is again iterated, and we finally woke up and smelled the security a few years back – the emergency fund!!!
Have a sun shiny one, Tony!
Good morning, Jollyhoombah!
Your writing is so fun to read, but a spider analogy, really? I can’t get by the eight legs…they creep me out! And to the question “Have you ever let the big one get away? Missed the boat? Looked a gift horse in the mouth? Dropped an iron in the fire? Effed up an occasion?”
Here’s my answer: Yes!
But I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting the boat and gift horse coming and now I wear hot mitts when handling hot irons! Life is good 🙂
Ree!! Thanks for Escaping Dodge and leaving a comment over here, and for your exceedingly kind words. Ha! Such delightfully clever inventions for holding onto those most desired opportunities, especially the hot mitts (Kitchen Grips makes a helluva product).
And me too, Ree. I guess this post is mostly inspired by my ability to blow great opportunities time after time. At some point, however, the utter terror of living a meaningless and geriatric regret filled life got the better of me. I began to take my chances.
Have a great gift horse spotting day!!
I know I’ve missed my share of opportunities in the past. The way I’m going to avoid that in the future is by having my emergency fund. The hindrance in the past has been money for me. If I would’ve had the money, I could have jumped at the opportunity. Looking back, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t take any of the opportunities presented, but that may not always be the case so I want to be ready to pounce when the right opportunity comes along.
Jake!!! A Hearty and Jolly thanks for your comment! The old emergency fund sure does help us sleep at night, doesn’t it? And sleep, say the scientists is darn good stuff, akin to fitness and veggies and the like. Money has always weighed very heavy on my mind which has held me back too. In 2012, my wife and I got really pissed about it and started paying off our debt. A year later, the E-Fund is acceptable, and we have only 2 debts left, one of which will simply vanish by December 2013.
Then I can make posts about the actual risks I take rather than theorizing about them. This community has been very helpful toward both ends.
Hope there’s a tasty morsel waiting outside your burrow! Go get it, Jake!
The way I make sure I am prepared for opportunity is by always staying open and ready for new opportunities and change. Learning from past experiences and choices is a great way to be prepared for future opportunities. I also agree that there is so much to learn from animals and how they work!
Joshua! A Jolly thanks for your comment. You may very well already be a trapdoor spider, so prepared are you for opportunity! And I could not agree more on all of your points. Whether we learn from mistakes or achievements, that knowledge does indeed prepare us for better future choices and for spotting and snatching up great opportunities, especially the big ones that might could get away.
And I have learned more from the common gray squirrel on our morning walks than I could ever have imagined. They certainly do not miss many opportunities because they keep it simple and always have an E-Fund full of nuts!!
Have a wide open day, Joshua!
Having savings helps to snatch an opportunity, but not all opportunities need money . I had dinner with a friend and we were talking about some ideas and not one of them required any money just time and effort.
Krantcents!! Thanks so very much for your comment! Aha!!! No, not all opportunities require money – thank goodness. Most of us would necessarily stare the gift horse down for lack of funds. What a pity.
See? That’s what my wife and I do. We have dinner, tea, walks, coffee and the like and just pop out piles of ideas and write them down. Most of them are sheer shenanigans, but a few just need water and sunshine and, as you say, time and effort. So a hooray for both $$$ in the E-Fund and cost-free ideas that lead to and prep us for opportunity!
Have a fantastic day, krantcents!
I don’t think there were any huge opportunities that I’ve missed so far, but I am still young so I hope some come my way! Like others have said, having some savings, confidence and being open-minded definitely help. My boyfriend got a job with a company for the growth, and because it has many locations throughout the US and we want to move. It would make it easier to be able to move if at least one of us was employed, and seeing as how the move would likely come with a promotion, we felt good about him accepting the offer. He’s been there two months and is learning a lot of new things, which is always great as well. So at least he took advantage of that opportunity!
Hi-Hi E.M.!!! A bouncy thanks for commenting!!! What a luxury to have escaped what so many of us have endured, the regret of letting the big one off Scott free.
Congrats to your boyfriend on the job and to you as well since you were part of the whole affair! A big move can make a profound difference in a young couple’s life as it did for us. We moved from NY to Houston, sight unseen with not a single connection to anyone. Consequently, we grew up and grew even closer together. It may have been the single best thing we ever did for our marriage – taking the opportunity to move when we had the chance!
I too hope that some grand opportunities come your way. With your cheery disposition and positive outlook, some are bound to come calling.
May and your boyfriend snatch up opportunity like our animal friends, only with good manners and taste!
I think you have to make your own opportunities sometimes. Often what seems like a negative can turn into one. A job I didn’t get led me to where I am now, which is a much better place. The other thing that can ruin opportunity is debt. People struggling to make payments are limited in what they can do as far as taking chances.
Kim!!! A peppy thanks for your comment! Abso-freakin-lutely, we must make opportunity AND be prepared for it. Make hay while the sun shines or perhaps while you are in your burrow. Activity and effort will sometimes put us in an unexpectedly delightful circumstance, brimming with possibilities.
As not getting that job led to a better place for you, getting cut form the high school baseball team made it easy for me to turn to the guitar, something I have been savoring for the past 25 years.
Just this year, we paid off my student loan and a home loan. What a difference! I should have asked sooner if any of these readers has an offer. We are in a good spot;)
Hope you have an easy like Sunday evening, Kim!
oh wow, loaded question!! It depends on how much you expected the opportunity I guess. If you were working towards it I hope I’d be very prepared, but a lot of times things come out of left field, and I think it’s fair to take the time to think it over and weigh options.
Budget! A zippy thanks for your comment! Indeed that question can be construed as being loaded. Let us lean more toward the unexpected, out of left field variety as the former seems more like a goal or perhaps a project.
With certainty, Budget, we must be able to take our time and mull opportunities over if need be. But as we refine and hone our priorities, our skills our passion, we are sometimes able to know, without deliberating, a worthy prospect when it is detected and we greedily pluck it from its perch to be devoured whole!
Oh, so sorry, Budget. Ok, now that I have a hold of myself, please have a splendid evening and I sincerely hope many swell opportunities soon present themselves to you!
Oh, I’m sure I’ve missed my fair share of opportunities but the one’s that I have encountered were achieved because I was willing and motivated to take them. Sometimes just the smallest gesture leads to something bigger than you ever imagined. Understanding that the world isn’t going to come to you that we might have to come to the world or the opportunity by seeing them ourselves paints a brighter picture. It’s like having a knack for decor or an eye for a deal. When you see it, you know it’s right and you grab it and run. Great post.
Greetings, CBB!!! And thanks a boatload for an entertaining and very kind comment. Awwwwww dang! You mean the following is all I had to write and I went through all that toil: “It’s like having a knack for decor or an eye for a deal. When you see it, you know it’s right and you grab it and run.” Electric stuff there. Developing that knack takes some doing, but readies us for the snatching and subsequent snacking!
When Tammy and I were just making eyes at each other up in NY, she decided she was going out west, all the way out west to study gerontology. I should have told her to hang on another 50 years and she could have studied me for free and learned a lot of colorful profanity and stupid jokes. Anyhow, I sent her a letter saying that she’d be missed. Pretty prosaic stuff. She stayed and it turned into this Great Jollyhoombah monstrosity and businesses and posts about trapdoor spiders.
Have a perfectly moonlit evening, CBB!
Having money set aside for such things is one part of the equations, but I think it’s equally as important to be expect good opportunities to come your way and if you’re not seeing any, then make them happen yourself. It’s great to see you here, Jolly Hoombahs! 🙂
Shannon! It is great to see you here too as always, and it is a pleasure to have your comment.
Agree, agree, agree squared and cubed! I like to think of the money as quieting my mind, so I can think straight. If I have a sizable savings, then I can relax and ponder and do my work, quality work. Then when opportunity arises, as it inevitably does, then The Hoombah pounces and wrangles the terrified prey into submission, but then feels bad and cries because we are not really that vicious.
So yes, we must have both $$$ and the right attitude, mindset, expectations, etc. Then we are truly prepared. Hope you have a bunny in the thicket Thursday!!!
I’m really focused on self improvement – to make myself as good as possible in every field possible. This includes physical (body) and the mental (psyche). As Jobs said, “the body lives to serve the mind”.
Troy!! A blistering thanks for commenting! Methinks this attitude of yours will get you many berries, perhaps not as many as Mr. Jobs, but many berries nonetheless.
Here’s to hoping that your body forever feeds your bright and nimble mind!!!
For so long, I had the opposite issue: I was too keen and eager for opportunities, and I would chase them all willy nilly and end up doing very little successfully. So for me, slowing down, working out what is truly important, and then growing from this core of what I think and feel and believe has enabled me to be open to new opportunities and directions.
Slowing down, simplifying my life and following my heart has enabled me to find and work on new opportunities.
Thanks for your inspirational words Sir Jolly.
Mark Adam Douglass!!! Thanks for dropping a nice comment. Methinks the trapdoor spider would concur. It seems she wastes little time on fruitless ventures. But being human does allow us to consider our trip wires, doesn’t it? Saying yes to one thing often means saying no to another, so discernment can save us much anguish and fear.
And an extra special thanks for using one of my many cherished, if not ridiculous, names. Have an inspired week!!!
I have been working hard on my discernment, and I am getting much better.
Love the tips.
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