QT: When Opportunity Presents, Should You Take It?


A year and a half ago (more or less), I went all in professionally on all things Diz Runs.

At that point in time, I still had a handful of personal training clients that I was working with on a regular basis.

One of those clients took me up on the option of continuing to write her workouts and serve as an online personal trainer.

Long story short, this woman has been pretty unhappy with her job since I started working with her some 4+ years ago.

A regular topic of conversation during her workouts was her venting about some shenanigans at her office.

Eventually, she got serious about looking for a new job. And before long, she had an interview and was offered a position with a new company.

But, for one reason or another, it wasn’t good enough.

So she stayed with the company she didn’t like and continued to bitch about her situation.

Fast forward a year or so and she had another opportunity to move on from the job she didn’t like.

But, again, the new offer wasn’t good enough.

Well, lo and behold, a few weeks ago I got a text from her saying that her company basically downgraded her from full time to part-time.

She was going to lose her benefits. And she was going to take a pretty serious cut in pay.

Most Opportunities Aren’t 100% Perfect

In the situation with my PT client, she was looking for the ideal scenario.

She wanted better hours. She wanted an increase in pay. And she didn’t want to have to commute very far.

And in all honesty, I don’t blame her.

When it comes to opportunities, professional or otherwise, who wouldn’t want to tick every item on the old wish list?

But how often does that happen?

More often than not, when new opportunities arise there is going to be both pros and cons.

For most of us, we focus on the pros.

We see the grass as greener but overlook the brown patches that are present.

But for some people, and I think my client is one of them, a little brown in the field is all that they can focus on.

And if there is any brown at all, the grass isn’t good enough.

When Opportunity Knocks…

As a runner, how do you react when opportunity knocks?

Do you ignore any potential negatives, focus only on the positives, and proceed with reckless abandon?

Or do you only see the possible downfalls of the new opportunity, and stay where you are because the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know?

Take It or Leave It?

I’m not even going to pretend like there is some “one-size-fits-all” way of reacting when opportunity knocks.

But I think it’s important to at least make sure to consider the opportunities when they present, because there is no guarantee that you’ll have another chance in the future.

  • If you have an opportunity to run with someone else? Take it.
  • Run in a different part of the country/world while traveling? Do it.
  • A chance to run a race, even if it’s a bit scary? Give it a shot.

I’m certainly not saying pursue every opportunity with reckless abandon.

But if you could really go one way or the other, err on the side of saying yes.

I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?


When a #running opportunity presents, should you take it? #runchat Click To Tweet

Are You a Quick Yes, a No Thanks, or a Maybe Kind of Person?

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