Are you ready to answer when opportunity knocks?

Someone once told me, “Always Be Ready.”

Since they told me this in the context of public speaking, I took it as a sign that I always needed to be ready to give a speech. And I decided if no one else signed up for a speech, I would take the empty spot. Or if a speaker didn’t show up for a meeting, I’d take that spot.

Last week, I put that into practice.

On Monday, we finalized the agenda for Thursday’s meeting and we only had one speech slot filled.

“Take the spot,” someone told me, so I did.

I picked a topic, crafted a story, and got up and gave the speech three days later.

I had a blast giving that speech, the audience was engaged, people told me later that they loved it, and the evaluation was positive. Afterwards a district rep who was in the audience asked me if I had been tracking my speeches online because, if I had, he could register me for a humorous speech contest.

Giving the speech gave me an emotional uplift, a sense of accomplishment, a confidence that carried over to other areas of my life.

All because I took the advice to Always Be Ready.

But I am not always ready. Sometimes opportunity knocks and I don’t take advantage. I tell myself that I need more preparation, that I’m tired, that the time is not right, that I’m too busy, that it sounds so great that there must be a catch. And the opportunity passes me by.

Do you do this?

I had a friend once, a good friend. Every time I called her to get together, she said, Not right now, I have to get my sh*t together. For two years, she said she had to get her sh*t together.

I finally told her, Look, your sh*t isn’t together, I don’t have my sh*t together, nobody has their sh*t together. If we wait until we have our sh*t together, nothing will ever happen. Let’s just get together.

But she wasn’t ready.

Let’s make a pact, you and me.

Let’s agree that we’re going to Always Be Ready. Let’s agree that, when opportunity knocks – when someone asks us to work on an exciting project at work, or when a recruiter reaches to us about a job we’re probably not interested in, or when a friend invites us to go to an event that makes us feel meh, or when colleagues we don’t know well invite us to sit with them at lunch, when we find that perfect pair of red sequined boots – we’ll give it a shot. Even if we don’t feel like we have our sh*t together.

Let’s Always Be Ready for life.