Windows Of Opportunity, Surprise Encounters and Windows Within Windows.
Many things in life are presented to us in the form of a window of opportunity. Some are bigger, some are smaller, some come earlier, some come later. Being able to mobilize and capitalize on these windows when they present themselves requires planning, patience, perseverance, and perhaps a whole lot of luck. This is especially true when that window appears spontaneously, is very small and might close very quickly! What kinds of situations am I talking about?
Athletes and musicians commonly begin their careers as children. Ballet dancers must begin their pursuit of excellence at a very young age. More famous rock bands were formed the morning of February 10th, 1964, than in any other date in history. The night before, The Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show, which ignited the passion and opened the window of opportunity for many budding rock stars. Tiger Woods discovered his passion for golf around age two!. Most successful race car drivers begin their career racing go-karts around age seven. It is very common in places like Europe and South America.
For those who have the long shot dream of a lifetime, to win an Olympic gold medal or playing professional sports, they have to have a combination of traits including the goal, passion, motivation, athletic ability, work ethic, commitment, ability to sacrifice and financial resources often at a very early age! According to Malcolm Gladwell, the learning curve for expertise at many things is a minimum time investment of 10,000 hours or 10 years. Many talented athletes miss this window, others spend many of their valuable young years preparing for an even smaller window of those achieving Olympic gold. That smaller window is a “window within a window.” The first window opens upon the young age dream of winning a gold medal. The window within window is the realization of that dream of being in the spotlight, on the podium, at the medal ceremony. Imagine having your dreams of gold dashed by winning silver, bronze, finishing forth or not at all. All of that precious time invested, without reaching the ultimate goal.
Dan Marino, arguably one of the most talented quarterbacks in NFL history, had an amazing career and provided football fans years of entertainment. Sadly he missed the window within the window and completed his NFL career without the one thing he wanted and deserved most, the coveted Super Bowl ring. Mountain climbers who reach the pinnacle of Mt. Everest can only stay on the summit for a short period of time, as the altitude impacts their ability to breath, there are likely others waiting for their short moment on the top, and they must be ready for the treacherous and usually more dangerous descent down the mountain.
For those daredevils who dream about flying fighter jets in the military, it makes it so much easier if you have both a passion for flying and knowing the path of least resistance before you graduate from high school. A window within a window for military pilots might be competing at Top Gun, or flying with a flight demonstration squadron like the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, or the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Those windows within windows are reserved for the very best of the best.
If you are single looking for romance and that perfect relationship, or unemployed looking for that amazing job, sometimes the window of opportunity is rare and you have to be prepared to act at a moments notice! If you are out in public, say at a coffee shop or restaurant, and you see someone who fits your image of Mr. or Ms. Wonderful, you have to be ultra confident and ready to strike while the iron is hot! If you see a job posting on Craigslist or other website, are you prepared to fire off that polished resume and cover letter within a matter of hours?
From the perspective of developmental psychology, some events in life occur at stages or time frames. The majority of people do certain activities at specific ages in life. Humans learn to walk and talk within a certain age range. They reach puberty at a certain age, which happens to be earlier for females than males. Most people graduate from high school at age 18 but college and grad school is different. People commonly graduate from college at 22 but some finish earlier and some later, while some people never go and some never finish. A few of my female friends did not attend college due to limited finances and raising children as single mothers. One of them earned her undergraduate degree in her mid-forties. In my master’s program in counseling psychology/organizational behavior we had a class of 30 students with an age range from 22 to 60. Developmentally people get married and have children in a larger window, but that can vary a lot by situation and socio economic status. Retirement used to be at age 65 for most people. That window has gotten bigger as people often retire earlier. If Social Security goes away, people may have to keep working later than age 65 in order to afford to live.
Sometimes there are outliers and outcasts with respect to what is considered life on the bell shaped curve. Some people who arrive or accomplish something early are at one tail, some who arrive late or don’t accomplish much in life are at the other. It is exciting when you see someone achieve success early, and very sad to see someone miss some of the great opportunities in life. There are no guarantees in life, and not everybody will get to do everything. Many professional athletes have come into money at a very young age, end up bankrupt or in trouble as they don’t have the ability to manage their money. It is sad when a person who dreams of raising a family, can’t do it due to a ticking biological clock. Missing a developmental window, for whatever reason, can be one of life’s big tragedies.
Here are some suggestions of things we can do to proactively be ready for the next window or the surprise encounter:
1. Know your outcome. Be clear what it is we want and be ready to mobilize when the opportunity comes.
2. Do you know exactly what you are looking for? If you see it will you be absolutely sure?
3. Do you have a plan? Do you know exactly how to go out and find what you are looking for?
4. Do you have a script? If you see Mr. or Ms. Wonderful, will you know how to capitalize on a 1 or 2 minute window.
5. Can you be in a resourceful and charismatic state? Be standing big (Amy Cuddy) and breathing well to access maximum resourcefulness.
6. Are you ready to handle rejection? The most successful sales people are the ones who are rejected the most. Rejection means you are one step closer!
7. Overcome fear. If fear rears it’s ugly head, figure out what it is you fear and work through it. Don’t let it keep you from pursuing your dreams.
8. Risk and reward. If you don’t ask, you won’t get and if you don’t play you can’t win. Take a leap of faith. Go for it and good luck!