Previously I’ve written about opportunity. When the movie begins, a feather floats out of the sky and lands at the feet of Forrest Gump. The feather can be compared to an opportunity. Opportunities often float into our lives and land at our feet. What did Forrest do? He picked it up. What do you do when opportunities land in your life?
Today, we’re going to coin a new word … Gump-portunity or gumpportunity
A gumpportunity is simply defined as taking advantage of an unexpected or unforeseen opportunity that arises by being in the right place at the right time.
Forrest Gump was sitting in the right place (the park bench) when the feather landed directly at his feet. Gumpportunities are those opportunities that seemingly appear out of nowhere. The key to success lies in having the wisdom to pick them up and take advantage of them. They are often called good fortune or simply dumb luck.
Sales professionals have long used the term bluebird to describe the unexpected, very profitable, or easily made sale … the one that seemingly comes out of nowhere. Gumpportunities are very much like bluebirds.
Gumpportunities follow these simple patterns:
- Being in the right place at the right time.
- Having done the necessary and valuable hard work beforehand, to know what to do with an unforeseen opportunity when it appears.
- Having both the wisdom and gumption to grab it and run with it.
Yes, luck is involved. But those who take advantage of gumpportunities are anything but simply lucky. They’ve done the hard work that allows opportunities to be recognized and seized. And they’ve shown the guts and initiation to make things happen.
In the next few weeks, I’ll continue to elaborate on and explain how you can benefit from gumpportunities. I’ll lay out steps to help you position yourself to both recognize them from a distance and take advantage of gumpportunities when they land at your feet. I’ll even lay out strategies that you can use to make gumpportunities appear regularly in your life.
When was the last time a gumpportunity landed at your feet? What opportunity did you get? What did you do with it?
Next Blog Title: How to Recognize and Seize a Gumpportunity
Next Blog Date: November 11, 2010