Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to be ready to ride the wave. If
Speaker 1: something big and good is happening in your life, take
Speaker 1: a little time to position yourself to be able to
Speaker 1: seize the opportunity. That way, your hard work you've been
Speaker 1: doing will pay off over the long term. Today's tip,
Speaker 1: like some others this week, comes from my book One
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty eight Hours. That book was first published
Speaker 1: in late May of twenty ten, which means that it
Speaker 1: is fifteen years old this month. A lot has changed
Speaker 1: in the world since then, but we do, in fact
Speaker 1: still have one hundred sixty eight hours in a week,
Speaker 1: and so I am re visiting some of the tips
Speaker 1: from that book that I think can still be helpful.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is a career one on being ready to
Speaker 1: ride the wave. I have long been fascinated by the
Speaker 1: concept of one hit wonders. Some people get really lucky
Speaker 1: with something in life and then they just sort of disappear.
Speaker 1: Some people, on the other hand, get a big break
Speaker 1: and then manage to keep going afterwards, building a long
Speaker 1: and sustainable career. A lot of that comes down to
Speaker 1: being ready to ride the wave. We can't necessarily control
Speaker 1: what waves come our way, but we can be prepared
Speaker 1: to take advantage of what luck does happen. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of that is taking a little bit of
Speaker 1: time to think strategically. Sometimes we ask ourselves what would
Speaker 1: happen if things went wrong? That is a smart question
Speaker 1: to ask, but I think it is also wise to
Speaker 1: ask ourselves what we would do if things went really right.
Speaker 1: For instance, what if the head of your organization popped
Speaker 1: into your office and announced that she has heard your
Speaker 1: team is doing amazing things. She wants to double your
Speaker 1: budget or triplet quadruplet. Do you know how you would
Speaker 1: make the most of these extra resources. Or maybe you
Speaker 1: work for a nonprofit that is used to operating on
Speaker 1: a shoe string. What would you do if a funder
Speaker 1: offered you more than your current annual budget, no strings attached.
Speaker 1: Do you know how you would make the most of
Speaker 1: that opportunity. Maybe you operate a small company that sells
Speaker 1: goods online. All of a sudden, some major influencer like
Speaker 1: I don't know Oprah mentions your product. Now, what are
Speaker 1: you prepared to make the most of the extra attention.
Speaker 1: What if a short video you make goes viral and
Speaker 1: you now have millions of people following you. What are
Speaker 1: you going to do to keep that audience or use
Speaker 1: it to launch your next thing. Luck is somewhat random,
Speaker 1: but what people do with that luck is not. So
Speaker 1: carve out some time to think about what you would
Speaker 1: do if you suddenly had a lot more resources or attention.
Speaker 1: Think about what projects you would like to try if
Speaker 1: someone gave you the support you'd need to do it.
Speaker 1: What people would you tap to help you? What would
Speaker 1: success look like. Now we don't know exactly what stroke
Speaker 1: of luck might visit, so you might want to think
Speaker 1: through various different scenarios, and you might have a few
Speaker 1: ideas that can work in any situation. For instance, it
Speaker 1: helps to have a way to capture people's email addresses.
Speaker 1: It helps to have more content to put out there.
Speaker 1: It helps to always have things in progress, so when
Speaker 1: a past work gets attention, you have something new to
Speaker 1: put out there soon afterwards. But there is no reason
Speaker 1: not to think about these things. I also think that
Speaker 1: being ready to ride the wave will in some ways
Speaker 1: make a good wave more likely. After all, when we
Speaker 1: are ready for opportunity. We start to look for opportunity,
Speaker 1: we follow a thread, we ask questions we might meet
Speaker 1: with that extra person, and then sometimes amazing things start
Speaker 1: to follow. So ask what you would do if things
Speaker 1: went incredibly well, because maybe they will, and then you
Speaker 1: will be ready to ride the wave. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.