I recently thought about how to find opportunities, and I came across this thought: how many opportunities you find is proportional to how many overlooked things you discover. The more overlooked things you discover, the more opportunities you will have at hand.
The key word here is overlooked.
If you want to be above the majority then following the crowd is always a bad idea. If many people already do something, then it’s practically too late for you. It will be far too difficult to gain competitive advantage over them. The more promising way to success is to become the first - or among the first - to do something, and that means you should see something that other people don’t.
So how could we find things overlooked by others? The answer - I believe - has much to do with the resources we consume. Different kinds of resources have different characteristics:
- Conventional resources can help you avoid competitive disadvantage. They help you avoid overlooking things seen by other people.
- Unconventional resources can help you gain competitive advantage. They help you see things overlooked by other people.
Can you see the difference? Conventional resources are important to prevent yourself from being left behind, but they can’t give you competitive advantage. Unconventional resources are your key to gaining competitive advantage.
While you should have both in your arsenal, unconventional resources receive much less attention so they are where you can make the most difference. Find more unconventional resources and opportunities will come your way.
Here are some tips to find unconventional resources:
- Be curious
Curiosity is your ticket to the unconventional world. If you are not curious, you won’t have the passion to explore the unfamiliar. By being curious you will enjoy the exploration and naturally explore wider and deeper. - Read challenging stuff
Challenging stuff has fewer readers, so it’s a good place to find overlooked things. An example of such stuff is academic papers in your field. Google Scholar is a useful tool to help you find academic resources. - Read things from other fields
Most people read about their own fields, so you can gain an edge by reading things from other fields. Even the seemingly unrelated fields can often give you fresh ideas. One simple way to start doing this is by visiting random articles on Wikipedia. - Read old resources
Since most people read only the contemporary resources, reading old resources is an advantage. Project Gutenberg has tons of old e-books you can download for free. - Read things from different languages
Doing this is not easy because you should first master the language, but if you can do it, chance is you will find things few other people do. Alternatively, you can use Google’s Language Tools. - Meet people outside of your field
People from different fields can give you fresh perspectives you might haven’t considered before, so expand your social network to include them. - Meet people from different cultures
Similarly, people from different cultures often see things differently and you can learn a lot from them. Ideally, you should know people from as many different cultures as possible.
Besides consuming unconventional resources, here are two more things you can do to boost your chance of finding opportunities:
- Be observant
Whatever you do, be observant of what is going on around you. Watch how people do things and listen to what other people say. Becoming an observer is a key to innovation. - Find patterns
There are many things happen in the world, but for most people they are just independent events that aren’t related to each other. Only a few people can find the patterns behind those events and recognize the bigger stories. Patterns are perhaps the most overlooked things, so people who find them are also the people who will find excellent opportunities before anyone else. While I’m not an expert, I have some tips about finding patterns in my article on anticipating the future.
These tips are easier said than done, but they will help you find more and better opportunities. In a world where most things quickly become commodities, the art of finding opportunities is the art of winning.
译文:
教你如何发现机会
我最近老在思考，要怎样才能发现机会，后来我得出这样一结论：你所发现的机会的多少和发现被忽视的事情是成比例的。也就是说，你能发现被忽视的事情越多，就能得到更多的机会。
关键在于“被忽视“这个词。
如果你想让自己出类拔萃，那么随波逐流可不是什么明智之举。要是很多人都已经做过了，你再去做，未免太晚了。因为在这方面，你想超越他们就更困难了。所以，通往成功的金光大道就是要成为做某事第一人，起码得是那一批“开拓者“里的。这也就意味着，你得注意到常人所无法注意的事情。
那么，怎样才能做到呢？我想，这一问题的答案在很大程度上和我们所消耗的资源有关。各种不同的资源都有其不同的特征：
常规资源能帮你避免竞争劣势，让你不至于忽视别人都看得到的一些事情。
非常规资源则可让你鹤立鸡群，也就是帮你发现别人所忽视的一些事情。
你能觉察其中的不同吗？常规资源固然重要，因为能帮你摆脱落后的命运，但是它们无法让你尽显优势。但非传常规资源却是你胜出的关键。
虽说这两种资源你都应该拥有，但是非常规资源更容易让人忽视，这也正是可大做文章之处。尽可能多地发现非常规资源，机遇自然就会送上门来。
这里有些关于如何找到非常规资源的建议：
1、要有好奇心
好奇心是你通往新世界的门票。如果毫无好奇之心，那么你就没有激情去开发陌生领域。所以，要有好奇心，尽情享受开拓探险之旅，自然而然你就会发现更多。
2、阅读有挑战性的书籍
常常有难度的书籍，读的人就比较少，所以这可是发现被人们忽视的事物的佳所。你所熟悉的领域内的学术论文就是其中一个例子。谷歌学术搜索（Google Scholar）在你搜索学术资料时相当有用。
3、读些其他领域的资料
许多人只看自己领域内的东西，所以你要是能看点其他领域的，就会体现优势。即便看上去毫无联系的一些知识，说不定也能给予你启发。要达到这一点，一个简单的方法就是随意浏览些文章，或去维基百科转转。
4、要看老的资料
因为很多人只看当代的一些资料，所以读读老的东西也能帮你脱颖而出。《古登堡计划》（Project Gutenberg）上有成千上万的老电子书，而且都是免费的，你可以自由下载。
5、看些用其他语言写的书籍
这个可能不是很容易因为你得先掌握这门语言。但是一旦你能读懂了，那么你就能达到常人所无法达到的高度。而且，即便语言掌握不佳，你还可以充分利用谷歌的语言工具。
6、多见见自己专业外的人士
不同领域的人士能让你以从未有过的角度看待问题，所以扩展自己的社交圈，结交更多的业外人士。
7、多和来自不同文化的人进行交流
同样地，有着不同文化背景的人们看待问题的角度也不同，所以你能从中受益良多。最理想的就是尽可能多地结交不同文化背景的人士。
除了利用这些非常规资源，这里还有两件事情你可以用来提高发现机会的可能性：
1、要注意观察
不管做什么事情，都要留心自己周围的情况。看看别人是怎么做的，听听他们又是怎么说的。成为观察家可是创新的关键。
2、发现模式
世界上时时刻刻都有许多事情在发生，但对很多人来说，这些事情都是独立的，相互之间没有任何关系。只有少数人能发现这些事件背后的模式，从而得到一个更大的事实。这模式估计最容易被忽视，所以能发现它们的话，就能发现平摊在所有人面前的最佳机会。尽管我不是这方面的专家，但我还是在《展望未来》中提供了些建议。
当然，所有这些建议都是说说容易做做难，但是可以肯定的是，它们能帮你抓住更多的机会。
在如今这个商品化的社会里，能发现机遇就意味着成功。