The Law of Opportune Timing
As long as the human race has existed, most people have believed that their lives are controlled by God, fate or some strange mystical outside force. To increase their good fortune, people have visited fortune tellers, seers, astrologers, priests, shaman, prayed to God, gods or other deities, tossed yarrow sticks, read the Bible, Torah, Talmud, I-Ching or Tarot cards, and consulted mystics and gypsies.
Although a belief system is a wonderful thing, our inordinate faith in ourselves and our abilities must be a part of it. We need to develop processes that we can use continuously to improve ourselves. Whether you believe that “God helps those who help themselves” or you believe in the approach of tapping into divine energy, you create your own fortune and this is the Law of Opportune Timing. Fortune is the result of doing the right things at the right time.
The author Steven Covey tells a story about two lumberjacks who were competing to see who could chop down the most trees. The first lumberjack worked hard all day long, scarcely even stopping to eat a bite of lunch. It seemed sure he would win the contest, because the other lumberjack was stopping almost every hour and sitting down for several minutes.
At the end of the day he lost the contest. He asked the other lumberjack, “How could that be?”
The other lumberjack replied, “Did you notice that every time I was sitting down, I was sharpening my saw?”
Sharpening the saw refers to improving ourselves. In order to be prepared for events and people that come into our lives, we must be receptive and we must be constantly sharpening the saw and adding to our skills and abilities.
What skills do you have where you excel? Do you take the time out of your day to improve yourself? Are you in the top 20%?
It doesn’t matter whether you are in sales, administration, customer service, finance or management; the outcome is really the same. You are there to add to the profitability of the company. By doing things, better, faster, more efficiently, you have the ability to do this for your employer at any level of an organization. When you can prove this to your employer, you become a valuable member of the team.