“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
which taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune,
Omitted, all the voyage of life
is bound in shallows and miseries.”

I  pondered over this quotation of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar and felt that as far as opportunities in life go, how true and authentic the quotation is. It is almost as if an opportunity will come only once and knock in an unobtrusive way, whereas temptations and false promises will keep ringing the doorbell continuously. One should be alert to infer when the “opportunity” arises, realize its importance and grab it! Otherwise, there will be a lifetime of regret of missed chances and as the above quotation goes, one’s life will be “bound in shallow and miseries”.

Opportunities come once in a way and they determine whether a person is successful or not. Most people are adept at finding excuses for lack of success, and they may even say that success is only due to “luck”. Such people will chide others that they didn’t win not because they didn’t have talent, but because they were not blessed with good and ready luck.

While the concept of luck cannot be underestimated, it is a fallacy that a person should just wait indoors waiting for “good luck” to fall upon the person. Instead, one motivational speaker said that a person should not just wait for luck, but have a net outside one’s home to increase and spread one’s chances of getting opportunities and therefore more chances of becoming “lucky”. This could ensure more success than if the person adopts the stance of a laidback luck-must-come-to-me opportunist. People can never be successful in life if they don’t do everything in their power to get what they want. If one just sits back and says that it’s not my karma, one may be missing wonderful opportunities of getting something substantial in life.

On the other hand, the successful person will not just live a cushy life waiting for fate and destiny and opportunities and good luck to happen, but he/she will do what he/she can to get the most of life. In other words, the successful person is watchful and observant, sharp and shrewd and verily doesn’t lose opportunities and most of all, strikes when the iron is hot. Unsuccessful people are the ones who procrastinate, make excuses, dilly-dally, complain and hold unacceptable attitudes. Like bad workmen, they keep blaming their tools, not realizing that their attitudes are at fault. Instead, if one reaches out to opportunities and tries to make luck work for one, one is sure to be comparatively successful and one would probably also have a more balanced and equitable attitude to live life to the fullest.