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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to be ready to ride the wave. If something big and good is happening in your life...
take a little time to position yourself to be able to seize the opportunity. That way, your hard work you've been doing will pay off over the long term. Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from my book, 168 Hours. That book was first published in late May of 2010, which means that it is 15 years old this month. A lot has changed in the world since then, but we do, in fact, still have 168 hours in a week.
And so I am revisiting some of the tips from that book that I think can still be helpful. Today's tip is a career one on being ready to ride the wave. I have long been fascinated by the concept of one-hit wonders. Some people get really lucky with something in life, and then they just sort of disappear. Some people, on the other hand, get a big break and then manage to keep going afterwards, building a long and sustainable career.
A lot of that comes down to being ready to ride the wave. We can't necessarily control what waves come our way, but we can be prepared to take advantage of what luck does happen. I think a lot of that is taking a little bit of time to think strategically. Sometimes we ask ourselves what would happen if things went wrong. That is a smart question to ask. But I think it is also wise to ask ourselves what we would do if things went really right.
For instance, what if the head of your organization popped into your office and announced that she has heard your team is doing amazing things? She wants to double your budget. Or triplet. Quadruplet. Do you know how you would make the most of these extra resources? Or maybe you work for a non-profit that is used to operating on a shoestring. What would you do if a funder offered you more than your current annual budget? No strings attached. Do you know how you would make the most of that opportunity?
Maybe you operate a small company that sells goods online. All of a sudden, some major influencer like, I don't know, Oprah mentions your product. Now what? Are you prepared to make the most of the extra attention? What if a short video you make goes viral and you now have millions of people following you? What are you going to do to keep that audience or use it to launch your next thing? Luck is somewhat random, but what people do with that luck is
is not. So carve out some time to think about what you would do if you suddenly had a lot more resources or attention. Think about what projects you would like to try if someone gave you the support you'd need to do it. What people would you tap to help you? What would success look like? Now we don't know exactly what stroke of luck might visit, so you might want to think through various different scenarios. And you might have a few ideas that can work in any situation. For instance,
It helps to have a way to capture people's email addresses. It helps to have more content to put out there. It helps to always have things in progress. So when a past work gets attention, you have something new to put out there soon afterwards. But there is no reason not to think about these things. I also think that being ready to ride the wave will in some ways make a good wave more likely. After all, when we are ready for opportunity,
we start to look for opportunity. We follow a thread. We ask questions. We might meet with that extra person. And then, sometimes, amazing things start to follow. So ask what you would do if things went incredibly well. Because maybe they will. And then, you will be ready to ride the wave. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
One thing about Chicago is
It empowers you to want to live because it has so much love. If these walls could talk, they would say stability. They would say neighbors. They would say hope. They definitely would say love. If these walls can talk, it would say family. JPMorgan Chase Community Development Banking understands that the buildings we invest in are more than just four walls. They are you. They are us. They are Chicago. This is an iHeart Podcast.