There’s a general belief, especially among Nigerians, that opportunity comes only once, which means that opportunity once lost can never be regained. Do you believe this statement?

For me, I don’t believe it. And I dare advise you not to believe anybody who may want you to believe it.
Anybody who tells you that opportunity comes only but once is either not well-informed or is telling you a BIG lie. Don’t believe that person.

I arrived at this conclusion out of my personal experience, which I would like to share with you here. Here goes my story.

In 2003, a soccer player agent accredited by the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, Mr. Andreas Guillermo, requested me to send him two good young soccer players, between the ages of 17- and 18-years-old, preferably, a defender and a midfielder, which I did.

As our discussion progressed, he sent me some contract papers to study, sign and return to him. Part of the contract stated as follow:

1. That he would send me US$100,000 (one hundred thousand United States dollars), that is, US$50, 000 on each player, as soon as they arrived his country, Argentina; and

2. That he would keep, maintain and train those players for twelve calendar months, before transferring them to a good soccer club, for us to make big money.

After study those contract papers, along with my lawyer, I signed and returned them to him.

Two days later, Mr. Guillermo wrote me a letter to express his disappointment in me. Can you guess what happened?
Somebody, from the business centre where I typed the covering letter that accompanied those contract papers I returned to him, mailed him a scam letter, promising to transfer millions of American dollars into his account if he could pay only a token as a Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, ‘approval fee.’

Mr. Guillermo was highly upset by the scam letter that he received from a stranger. Because of that he decided to cancel the ongoing contract between him and me.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received his letter, which he wrote in anger. It took me several years to recover from that disappointment and the shock that accompanied it.

I did all I could to make him believe that I was not a party to the scam letter, but all to no avail. He could not trust me any longer.

I was a firm believer of the ‘opportunity comes only once’ rubbish. Because of that erroneous belief, I lost the hope of ever having such an opportunity again.

A few months later, I saw a copy of Napoleon Hill’s Think And Grow Rich at a friend’s house. After reading the book’s Publisher’s Preface and A Word From The Author pages, I pleaded with my friend to allow me to go and read it, and he obliged me.

After reading a few pages of the book in my house, I started having a change of mind on the believe that ‘opportunity comes only but once.’ In the place of that, I began to observe and to believe that opportunity knocks everyday of our lives.

In other words, I no longer believe that opportunity comes only once, but that it knocks on our door every day of our lives. The reason many people still believe that opportunity knocks only once is because it oftentimes deceitful and comes in a tricky form.

Napoleon Hill captures it succinctly when he says: “It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why may fail to recognize opportunity.”

If you were a believer in the lie that reads: ‘opportunity comes only once,’ this is an opportunity for you to know the truth, which is: OPPORTUNITY COMES OUR WAY EVERY DAY.

It is like an incoming call, which you receive every day.  You have the option to receive or reject it.

The pertinent question that you need to provide answer to here, is: Would I be able to spot one when it comes around me or when I come in contact with it?

If you can answer this question in the affirmative, like I do, you’ll discover that opportunity really comes our way door every day of our lives.

If you cannot answer this question confidently, then, you need to learn or train yourself to spot an opportunity whenever it comes your way.

OPPORTUNITY COMES OUR WAY EVERY DAY.  All you need do is to always ‘shine your eyes,’ as Nigerians would say. If you don’t ‘shine your eyes,’ you won’t be able to spot it in its usual cunning form.

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