One realization that I’ve come to recently is the fact that while we can sometimes make opportunities. There are some which are presented to us because we’ve done the necessary work behind the scenes. So many times people prepare to be reactive instead of proactive. Opportunities come and go. However, many times they come as the result of some type of preparation. Sometimes you have to work toward a possible opportunity with the full knowledge that you might not actually get the opportunity. You have to accept the risk that the opportunity may not be everything that you expected it to be. Strategizing, preparing, and working towards a chance at the opportunity can be tasks that may appear pointless. But it’s important to remember that sometimes opportunities come in proportion to the amount of preparation that happened beforehand. Many times I have to take a step back and remind myself that I’m in it for the long run. Similar to the way that people make long term investments, I think of this process as a test of endurance. Regardless of the outcome. There are many times where after investment, people discover that they are actually losing money in stocks or whatever they’ve invested in. However, instead of throwing in the towel, they remember that a loss is not necessarily permanent. Waiting something out, riding it through is sometimes necessary because a short term set back does not mean that the investment is bad or won’t give a good return. The opportunity may or may not come but it’s the process that creates an environment for growth. The planning, the strategy, the thought. You don’t want to miss the chance at an opportunity because you refused to get ready for it.