Part 2 – Attracting Situations and Opportunities

Be curious and interested

Sometimes you've just got to push yourself into the unknown, when you do you will find that people, situations and learning with present itself to you and help you along your way. When having conversations being open minded about what anyone has to say. Even the most unexpected people have the best ideas or contacts.
I remember talking to a chef at one of my favourite restaurants about setting up my business which was nothing to do restaurants or food. He told me about a friend of his that had set up a similar business and who worked with government agencies to find new clients. It gave me a terrific idea to do something similar and resulted in me changing my strategy and researching a number of fruitful opportunities. Being open minded and curious resulted in me asking questions and discovering a new opportunity.

Expect success

When you change your mindset to expect success it's amazing what opportunities begin to arise. You walk through life with an air of confidence and optimism and that alone attracts positive energy to you. In the early 2000's I worked in a job that I didn't like. I exuded negative energy. My boss was continually piling on unsatisfying projects, critiquing my behaviour and threatening to fire me. It was a miserable time and I wanted out. I was trawling the job ads for anther role somewhere else but there was nothing. I was stuck where I was and there was nothing to be done. Fortunately I shared my office with a gentleman who had a positive and easy going outlook on life, he also happened to work for a different boss! He re-educated me in terms of my inner thinking and dialogue and helped me to choose to be more optimistic about life. Realising that my situation was a temporary life challenge I became much more optimistic and excited about the future.
Within a matter of weeks I was told that I was being made redundant with a significant payout. Luckily I started working at the company just a year before they changed the rules around redundancy payouts and with almost 10 years service I was due to receive at least 12 months pay in a lump sum. My terrible boss was reassigned and I worked 3 months of my notice more or less independently on a terrific project in one of the most pleasant offices of the campus, with a large open window overlooking a national park forest. I remember it well as it was a warm and windy July and I used to listen to the sound of the wind rushing through the trees and watch the sun reflecting on the nearby lake. It was very cathartic, I spent some time reflecting on life and where I wanted to be. I refocused my job search and found just one job that sounded ideal. I drove across the UK for an interview the following week and within half an hour I had a job offer to work from home 4 days a week, earning more money than in my previous job. It couldn't have been better, but once I had changed my mindset I wasn't really all that surprised as I was expecting something good to happen.

Becoming the person you want to be

As mentioned in the previous post, you can play the “As if” game, or fake it until you make it. Going beyond simply thinking yourself into your new persona, you might also consider dressing more successfully and using the language, thoughts and actions of the person you want to be. When you do this associates and colleagues will treat you with more credibility and you'll find opportunities arising where you wouldn't have even seen them had you not been acting “As if”.
We've all seen the office junior who makes an effort to put a suit on each day and chat professionally with his senior peers. He is usually the one that is given the opportunity to take on more challenging projects and eventually get promoted into a more senior role.

Allowing the pieces to fall into place

Sometimes when you want something too much you put yourself into a negative state by trying to force it to happen. This is negative, blocking energy and it will push your goals further away. Instead you must relax and allow it to happen. Once you have decided what it is that you want and started to take passionate and enthusiastic action you need to focus on the moment and not the future. Enjoy the process and the journey and the destination will arrive. The reason this works is because you are spending your time and energy doing what is necessary and enjoying the process, instead of standing still looking at your goals from a distance.

In part 3 we will explore 'taking action' and how to get started on your journey.