The Window of Opportunity - Seize It Now | Ep 34
In this eye-opening episode of the LFG Energy podcast, I dive into the concept of the “Window of Opportunity”—those rare, pivotal moments where decisive action can change everything. Drawing from my own journey, I share personal stories of how recognizing and acting on these opportunities has been critical to my growth and success. From overcoming setbacks to making bold, life-altering choices, I reveal why waiting for the perfect moment is a trap and why true progress only happens when you seize the moment despite the fear or doubt.
I also break down practical strategies for identifying your own windows of opportunity and making the most of them before they close. If you've been feeling stuck or hesitant to take the next step in your life or career, this episode is for you. It’s a powerful reminder that your time is now.
Timestamps:
(00:00) - Introduction
(03:20) - What is a Window of Opportunity?
(06:45) - Why Waiting Is Your Biggest Enemy
(10:05) - Personal Story: When I Chose To Act
(12:30) - Practical Strategies for Seizing Opportunities
(16:15) - Breaking Free From Perfectionism
(18:45) - Recognizing and Embracing Uncertainty
(21:30) - Your Call to Action: Stop Waiting, Start Living
Welcome to the LFG Energy podcast! Your host, Arjun Dhingra, is a two-time Taekwondo world champion and the former Team USA co-head coach. He is a 23-year mortgage veteran of the industry who loves influencing change in people.
This podcast is about the stories and lessons of those who have had their backs against the wall and have ultimately overcome. Former Olympians, coaches, entrepreneurs, and incredible human beings will share their experiences of resilience and beating the odds in spite of adversity so that you too can learn to start doing the same in your life.
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Transcript
Welcome back to another episode this Thursday of the LFG Energy Podcast.
Speaker A:Today's topic is a very relevant one and one that I'm excited to present, which is called Windows of Opportunity.
Speaker A:We are presented with windows all the time.
Speaker A:Whether we're paying attention or not, they're everywhere around us.
Speaker A:Your window of opportunity to achieve greatness, your window of opportunity to achieve success.
Speaker A:Your window of opportunity to make yourselves, to make yourself more datable and marketable to a member of the opposite sex or the same sex, depending on who you're going after.
Speaker A:I'm going to share some examples of windows of opportunity with you guys, then also give you a framework today of how to not only recognize and identify the windows that are currently in your life, but how to seize them and make sure that you take full advantage of them.
Speaker A:And most importantly, how to ultimately recognize or just identify the fact that it's closed and it's time to move on to something else.
Speaker A:Because a huge mistake that many of us make is thinking that a window is unlimited in terms of its time and how open it is.
Speaker A:And they are not windows open and they are meant to close.
Speaker A:And that's something really important that I want everyone to be able to take away.
Speaker A:So let's get into it here on today's episode.
Speaker A:First, a few examples of windows of opportunity.
Speaker A:Let's first start with sports franchises.
Speaker A:You will hear a lot of times, whether it's a football team or a baseball team, the media will be talking about their window or their championship window is as wide open as it's been.
Speaker A:This basically means that the internal and the external are in alignment.
Speaker A:And here's what I specifically mean by that.
Speaker A:The external being the market and everything else going on around you that you don't necessarily have direct control over, but you are ready to seize because the timing is right.
Speaker A:The internal has to do with everything that you directly control.
Speaker A:Now, in the case of a sports franchise, your payroll, the players that you have currently on your roster, the length of contracts.
Speaker A:When you analyze all of this and you compare it against what the external is showing you, you therefore have a window to operate within a window to be able to win, knowing that you've got certain key players under cheaper contracts and you're not going to necessarily have to pay them huge money or risk losing them to the open market for three years.
Speaker A:And given the talent level that you have compared to the rest of the league, you have a championship window now of three years.
Speaker A:That is exactly how a sports franchise views windows.
Speaker A:Now, individual athletes have the Same thing.
Speaker A:They might know that they're in their athletic prime and the way their competition is lining up and who some of the upand cominging people are or the people that were at the top that are now kind of phasing out, that little gap in there has presented their window for individual success and greatness.
Speaker A:So whenever that preparation and timing all align, that's where you get something when it pertains to sports, either individually or as a team.
Speaker A:Now let's talk about relationship windows.
Speaker A:We all have certain periods in our life.
Speaker A:Whether people want to call it their 30s, maybe it's their 40s, maybe it's their 50s, where they are the most marketable.
Speaker A:Now, everyone goes through dating stories.
Speaker A:Some have more horrific ones, some had a little bit of an easier time with it.
Speaker A:But you have a window when you probably have maybe really good earning years that you're in the middle of and things are lined up, you're at a good peaceful place in your life, you feel ready and have created space for someone to join you.
Speaker A:And you're really marketable because maybe you don't have a lot of things that are tying you down right now.
Speaker A:You've got some level of youth, but still a nice blend also of life experience and frames of reference to be able to mix in there.
Speaker A:The eligible market views you as quite marketable and it matches up.
Speaker A:That's a dating window.
Speaker A:Now that's not to say that people can't have good dating windows at later stages in their life, especially after going through a major breakup or even a divorce.
Speaker A:Dating windows can reappear.
Speaker A:But the ideal ones are when we are at that marketable age or time.
Speaker A:And it's different for everyone.
Speaker A:But that's an example of a relationship window.
Speaker A:People who are single, confident and really coming into their own in terms of self growth and perspective and really being really and really truly being aware of who they are.
Speaker A:That kind of confidence is what determines your relationship or dating window.
Speaker A:Then there's.
Speaker A:Then we can move on to.
Speaker A:Now we can move on to the third example, which is the careers window or your earning potential.
Speaker A:You will hear sometimes people talk about whether it's within a certain profession or industry that your best or most maximized earning years are right here.
Speaker A:They're either right in front of you or maybe you're in the middle of them or you're about to enter them.
Speaker A:Now it's different and I'm not going to talk specifically about any one industry, but they all have one where depending on what it is that you bring to the table and how you either provide a service or you execute.
Speaker A:There's going to be a certain window where you can really max out and go hard at it and, and earn as much income as you want.
Speaker A:Now, this sweet spot is basically taking all the experience that you've got and all the frames of reference or the dues that you've paid in that industry or in that job, and then recognizing that you now have the tools and the competence and confidence to be able to go out and attack the marketplace or attack the area that you serve.
Speaker A:And this is where you really max out.
Speaker A:That is your earning window.
Speaker A:And again, it's different for everyone, regardless of industry.
Speaker A:But that's an example of how this plays out in the professional world.
Speaker A:So those are three examples of windows.
Speaker A:So now what I want to do is give you, the listener, a framework for how to identify yours and what you're going to do, because again, everybody has them.
Speaker A:But you first need to get very clear on what it is that you're trying to do.
Speaker A:Maybe you're trying to win something.
Speaker A:Maybe you're trying to get into a school or land a job.
Speaker A:Maybe you really want to settle down and start a family in the next five to ten years.
Speaker A:Maybe you, maybe you want to start a company and launch something big or bring something new to the marketplace, or there's a championship that you are individually or as a team seeking to win.
Speaker A:So here is your framework on how to do this.
Speaker A:The first step is called awareness.
Speaker A:You need to focus and understand and identify when your window for whatever it is that you're seeking to do.
Speaker A:And quick disclaimer, guys, you can have multiple windows you might be pursuing, adding a life partner and starting a family while also trying to seize a window of personal achievement in the way of a sport, or in the way of a sport or a personal challenge.
Speaker A:But you've got to identify what this window actually is and understand when it opens, and also, most importantly and most often overlooked, when it's going to close.
Speaker A:Because every window has a moment where it will close.
Speaker A:There is no such thing as an infinite window.
Speaker A:So take the time, or whether you're listening to this and you have a piece of pen, and so take the time, whether you're listening to this or you're sitting down with a pen and a piece of paper and identify the window, whether it's you're winning a championship window, or starting my family window, or launching my career window, or, or getting into grad school window.
Speaker A:Whatever it is, write it down.
Speaker A:Identify when it's opening and when it is set to close, put that start and expiration date on it.
Speaker A:That now is your window that you are going to operate within the next thing.
Speaker A:Step two is now the preparation.
Speaker A:We need to lay out the groundwork and the process for how you're going to achieve your goal within this window.
Speaker A:Now, the beautiful thing about windows is that they're time limited, so we have to get things done.
Speaker A:We've all heard the expressions or the statements that if you have two hours to do something, you'll take two hours.
Speaker A:But if you had 15 minutes to do the same thing, it's going to take you 15 minutes.
Speaker A:Whatever time limit we have.
Speaker A:And again, once it's set, it's set.
Speaker A:We have to get it done within that time.
Speaker A:Otherwise we are outside the window and we squander our opportunity or our chance.
Speaker A:So figure out how you're going to build that confidence by all the skill building the work, the processes that you're going to have to adopt, implement the coaches you're going to need to put around you, lay all of it out and be hyper specific.
Speaker A:The more specific you are, the easier it will be to create action plans, daily plans, hourly plans so that you can execute because your window may be a very short one, which means you don't have any time or opportunity to waste.
Speaker A:After you have identified through awareness and then you've done this actual preparation work.
Speaker A:The next thing, and perhaps most important in all of this, guys, is going to be your focus.
Speaker A:You are going to be, you are going to have to come to real terms with how badly you want to actually achieve this goal or this victory within this certain window that you've identified.
Speaker A:And be laser focused in terms of eliminating distractions, cutting off any limiting beliefs, negative talk, negative people in your life, clear the decks and give yourself every opportunity for success within that window by, by being hyper focused.
Speaker A:Next step.
Speaker A:Also important, but so key in all of this is actual action.
Speaker A:Now in a previous episode I talked about making your move, which is all taking action.
Speaker A:So you will need to do that.
Speaker A:Launch the project, ask the person out, make your moves, be bold and and take action.
Speaker A:Sitting back will favor nothing for you.
Speaker A:Talking about it and writing about it and dreaming about it is one step, but unless there's action behind it, guys, it's worth nothing more than the paper that you're writing on right now and that actually has no value.
Speaker A:So greatness will favor those who actually are bold and take the action.
Speaker A:So make sure you do it.
Speaker A:And again, the way you take the action is by following all of that preparation, the processes, the groundwork, the frameworks in which you've laid out, you just need to execute the last step in all of this is the glue that holds it all together, and that is resilience.
Speaker A:No plan goes according to how it was scripted or what it was blueprinted for.
Speaker A:You need to be prepared.
Speaker A:And I used to tell our athletes whenever we would go out for a big day of competition, particularly in the team events, there's a lot of stuff that we are going to have absolutely no control over today.
Speaker A:And we need to expect that shit is going to hit the fan at some point.
Speaker A:And when it does, what will we do?
Speaker A:How resilient will we be?
Speaker A:How adaptable will we be?
Speaker A:How adaptable will we be?
Speaker A:How quickly will we.
Speaker A:How quickly will we be able to pivot and adjust?
Speaker A:And this is where footwork.
Speaker A:This is where thinking quickly on your feet, thinking quickly on your feet comes into play.
Speaker A:And not being so stubborn.
Speaker A:And we talked about this in a previous episode, which was called adaptability quotient.
Speaker A:Some of the most successful executors and high performers in the world have that one trait in common, and that is aq, Adaptability quotient.
Speaker A:When things go wrong and they don't go according to plan, which they inevitably will to some extent, sometimes the whole thing goes to shit.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's just a small part.
Speaker A:You need to have a plan for how you're going to pivot or just be able to do it quickly in that moment without losing much of a step.
Speaker A:And that's the definition of resilience.
Speaker A:The other component to all of this, guys, within resilience is accepting and acknowledging the sense of finality with all of this, all windows will close.
Speaker A:And sometimes there's people who operate in denial.
Speaker A:Think of an athlete that has overstayed his career, whether it's an as an individual or they're part of a team, where clearly they are past it, but it's their ego that's keeping them in, or the fact that they just don't know what else they're going to do in their lives.
Speaker A:Their window has clearly closed, yet they're acting as if the window is open and you don't want to be one of those people, whether it's in a workplace or on the battlefield.
Speaker A:But the other thing to remember that, but the other thing to remember with that sense of finality, guys, or that windows do close, is that other ones will open.
Speaker A:You can have a different window within that same frame of reference.
Speaker A:Reopen later.
Speaker A:And the example for that is dating.
Speaker A:Just because, let's say, somebody considers themselves really marketable between the ages of 28 and 38 for those 10 years, that that is their best chance, while they've still got a full head of hair and their earning potential and nothing really holding them back, their health, their good looks, their youthful skin, whatever it is, to market themselves and be able to date that if they have to date again in their 50s, because they're going at this again for the second time around, it doesn't mean that it's the same window that they had before.
Speaker A:It's a new opportunity.
Speaker A:So while windows do close, other ones will open.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's a similar one, sometimes it's something totally different.
Speaker A:But you don't want to feel this sort of catastrophic denial or sense of failure.
Speaker A:If a window closes and you didn't achieve what you needed to within it.
Speaker A:It's important, as we've talked about in previous episodes, to go back and analyze your losses or your setbacks and use that formula that I gave you in that framework of figuring out what could have been done and how to avoid this type of a misstep or a setback from happening again.
Speaker A:If you do that, you'll be able to recognize windows guys and always perform well within them.
Speaker A:Foreign so recognize guys as we close out this episode, that the key to all of this experience is to not only just recognize and identify these windows, but work hard towards putting in actionable plans and processes in place.
Speaker A:That's where you're going to experience the most personal growth in your life.
Speaker A:Because windows are happening all around us all the time.
Speaker A:Very few people actually seize them because they have no idea of how to identify them or even acknowledge that they actually exist.
Speaker A:Some people naively go through this life thinking that windows are open ended, and they never end.
Speaker A:But they all do.
Speaker A:Great things start and great things end, and new beginnings can happen after that.
Speaker A:But you've got to identify these things, recognize them for what they are, recognize them for what they are, treat them with respect, and execute to the best of your ability while you have that opportunity.
Speaker A:It's kind of like getting a star in Super Mario Brothers.
Speaker A:It's a brief period of time, but you're invincible.
Speaker A:That is a window to run through the level, destroy everything that you touch, make it effortless to get to the end.
Speaker A:That's a window.
Speaker A:That's how you take advantage of it in the video game sense.
Speaker A:But think of getting your star right now in real life and how you're going to apply that and that's how you'll function within a window.
Speaker A:So I encourage you all to identify the ones that are going on in your life now and again.
Speaker A:You could have multiple ones, but put them down on paper, really be crystal clear on them.
Speaker A:Use this actionable plan I gave you to be able to execute on them and you'll find that you guys will seize these windows in your life and as they continue to open, you will do well within them before they close and move on to the next one.
Speaker A:I hope you guys got a lot out of this episode today because this type of framework is something I apply and I'm looking for these windows all around me all the time and they do exist and I know they do for you too.
Speaker A:Please share your comments and feedback on this type of an episode.
Speaker A:If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of it and share it on social media and tag me in it so that I can help.
Speaker A:So that I have a better sense of the type, so that I know that a you got a lot out of it and b it's telling me that these are the types of content and episodes that you guys enjoy hearing from.
Speaker A:But more importantly, share it with someone that you feel could benefit from learning about Windows in their life.
Speaker A:As always, I appreciate and love you guys for listening.
Speaker A:I always want this to be helpful and move the needle in your life on some level, so I hope it continues to do so and I will see you guys on next week's episode.
Speaker A:Okay, good.
