There comes a time in life when you are given a chance. It may happen a hundred times, or once every ten years. The thing of it is you aren’t handed a chance by accident. It doesn’t just happen. You can’t wait for someone to reach down from the sky and go “You look like you’ve been waiting a while, sitting there, here’s an opportunity for you.”

You make it happen.

If there’s something you want to do, then you do the work. You work as hard as you can as much as you can. You sacrifice when you need to and push harder than you want to on some days. You work at it. You bust your ass for it. Just keep pushing.

Also, it helps to be a decent person. People have to work with you, on some level, no matter what you do. If you make them not want to work with you, then that’s exactly what’ll happen. You treat people with respect, you go the extra mile and act like the professional you want to be. Get your shit together and really show you’re capable.

The work gets done, the work gets better. The person you are is always growing and improving. And it feels like, some days, no matter what you do it will never amount to anything. That you’re just exhausting yourself and getting nowhere. So you keep in the game, anyway. Because chances and opportunities aren’t just tossed out of moving planes like a Cargo Cult waiting to happen. That’s not how it works.

Opportunity isn’t a gift from above. It’s created on the back of all that work and who you are. It arrives because of your work and your relationships. It’s not in who you know but who you are.

And then it shows up on your doorstep. And you look at it and go “Wow, where did that come from?” because in that moment the work and the struggle melts away and it feels like a parcel from some magical land.

But you still have to accept it. Swallow the fear and look it over as critically as you would anything else. Push and handle the due diligence. Do the legwork, make sure everything looks right and the golden ticket isn’t tissue paper and marker.

And then say yes.

And then you work harder than you ever have before.

At first you’ll think “I have to work harder so I don’t let the people who gave me this chance down.” but that isn’t true. That isn’t your job. It isn’t why you work harder.

You work harder so you don’t let yourself down.

So when that chance comes along, remember that. If you say yes it’ll be even more work – endless work. And it’ll be glorious and exciting and keep you up nights and make you want to scream and dance and whimper and hide in bed and run through the streets – all at once.

So cherish it. Hold it tight, do the work and thank yourself for making it happen.

And then get the fuck back to work, slacker. You don’t have all day and you have ever more work to do. And isn’t that the best thing in the world?