Six Ways to Capture Opportunity

Grateful for the opportunity to share this moment with my girls

Taking Advantage of Opportunity

Mortgage.  Just saying the word is intimidating.  I put up all sorts of barriers to looking into refinancing my mortgage.  Some were legit.  Others were manufactured.  Inaction does not solve problems.  

My mortgage is by far my biggest expense.  It makes sense that I should want to have the best financing possible.  However, my loan has a decent interest rate and there is no prepayment penalty.  I make additional payments to reduce the principal, decrease the amount of interest I pay, and shorten the life of the loan.  I had all the information that I thought that I needed to defer further consideration.    Plus, selling my house was a true possibility so why generate fees with refinancing.

Time lapsed and it was time to reassess things.  I had done a great job at reducing and omitting waste from my budget.  My mortgage was the one thing that I had not addressed.  It became clear that I had to begin the conversation of refinancing.  It had been some time since I thought about mortgages.  I began with a query to the company which held the current mortgage.  Every option they gave me was better than my current terms.

Despite having several great options, I struggled with the choice.  Lower payment and bigger interest rate or bigger payment and lower interest rate.  I mulled this over for weeks.  Then, in a conversation with a knowledgeable friend, it was casually mentioned that the Federal Reserve announced an increase in rates.  Oh my!  I needed to make a decision.  Mortgage rates had been at a historic low and I had already missed that.  Interest rates are still great but are climbing and the incremental improvement in my interest rate was at risk.  Did I miss an opportunity?

Capturing Opportunity

I believe opportunities exist for those who are intimately aware of their goals and dreams and are open to the myriad of possibilities of getting there.

Step One: Create Space

Above all else, opportunity requires capacity.  We can't utilize or miss something if we do not know that it exists.  Opportunities may go unnoticed when something else has our attention or we are overwhelmed.  It is hard to recognize opportunity under these conditions.  Prioritize and purge.

Step Two: Dream Big

Assess current needs or problems.  Establish goals and dream big.  Opportunities seldom come wrapped and engraved.  It is important to keep an open mind.  In fact, it can simply be our unique perspective that is able to see a rare opportunity that would have been overlooked by someone else.

Step Three: Educate Yourself

Education and Information are paramount.  There is so much information to be had.  Access to information is phenomenal.  Still, finding the right information is challenging and vetting information can be difficult.  So much information from so many sources can be overwhelming.  In this case, I started my inquiry with my current mortgage lender.  I used my current rate and the proposed interest rate from current lender as my points of reference.

Step Four: Address your Fears

Fear of change and of the unknown can seem like a big, dark, deep, and consuming hole.  Most of my fears come from lack of information.  Write down your fears and find ways to address them or ask questions to clarify the unknown.  Be honest with yourself.

I believe everyone has the right to ask as many questions as they need to reach an understanding.  This is different for everyone.  I am inquisitive.  I like information.  If given the opportunity, I will ask run-on questions.  I am past making sweeping generalizations and assumptions.  Most things have greater value and more depth than a glance or once over will reveal.

Step Five: Turn up the Optimism

Coming from a place of gratitude can help increase our likelihood of coming into favorable circumstances.  The bad is easy to spot. Opportunity starts with being able to see the good and the possibilities.   When we look for the good in a difficult situation, we will be able to see all sorts of opportunities that we would have never, otherwise, realized.

Step Six: Remember you are Awesome

Unquali- what?  Another reason we miss opportunities is doubt.   Sometimes an opportunity presents itself and we recognize it, but we do not take advantage of it because we did not feel sufficiently prepared.  Sometimes we are more qualified and more prepared than we give ourselves credit.  The fact that you are in the sweet spot of being able to identify an opportunity- we should consider it ours until proven otherwise.  We sometimes fail to realize that we are able.  Yes!

Start today.

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