This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 37.
When opportunity knocks, what do you do?
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Well, gosh, I don't know how you do it up there.
I'm having a hard enough time down here, but that's great.
I mean, I'm glad you like the cold. Well, you know, I think that the cold weather is an opportunity to work on other things.
Like, you know, I like to do spiritual practice and meditation, and that's a good opportunity to be inside meditating or outside snowboarding or doing other things in the snow, getting active.
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of cool things that you can do, a lot of opportunities you should take, a lot of things to do.
Even though maybe you can't go outside and take long walks like you did in the summer, you should take it as an opportunity to do other things.
Yeah, exactly. And today it seems like we're talking about opportunity a lot.
So that's what we want to jump into today, guys, this concept of opportunity.
What a cool topic, right, Michelle? Oh, yeah, definitely.
I love this. Yeah, and so let's start off today's episode with a quote.
Do you want to read the quote today? Sure, sure.
Okay, this is a quote that I really, really love.
Okay, so here it is. It's, if opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
And the person who said that is Milton Berle.
Ooh, I like it. I like it. So what are we, what does this mean?
I mean, how can opportunity knock? Like what, what does that actually mean?
Yeah, it's kind of funny because the thought of something knocking that isn't a person is a little confusing, but here what, what it means if opportunity doesn't knock, it means like If the things that you're looking for don't come right to you, for example, maybe you're looking for a job or you're looking to audition for something, anything like that.
So if opportunity doesn't find you, if it's not that easy, build a door.
So it means if it's not that easy, you should find your own way, right?
Like you should find a way to make things work for you, to make your own opportunities, your own possibilities.
Yeah. And so that's a really common phrase, right?
When opportunity knocks. Now, I know you guys, a lot of our listeners here, they want to learn real natural American English and this is it.
Right. This phrase when opportunity knocks or if opportunity doesn't knock, those are very common phrases and idioms that we use here and here in the US.
Right. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
But the thing that I struggle with is knowing when an opportunity is something that I should pursue or when I should just let it go.
I think we all struggle with that, definitely.
Yeah. And how do we know? I mean, Michelle, do you have any personal stories about a time that you took advantage of an opportunity or you didn't and then something happened?
Oh, yeah, sure. I think about this stuff a lot.
It's all very interesting to me, actually.
Yeah. Actually, when I was in college, I had always imagined that I would study abroad.
And I always thought I would study abroad in London because that's what my older brother did and he loved it so much.
So... I knew I was going to do this. And then as college was happening, I was in a band, as I think I've talked about before.
You were a rock star? Yeah, something like that.
And maybe not quite. But I was really, really serious about it.
And it was really important to me. And I felt that if I left, that I would miss out and maybe the band would be no more.
So I was really worried about that and I didn't want that to happen.
So I thought to myself, you know what? I don't think I'm going to go.
I don't think I'm going to study abroad.
Oh, wow. The summer before, I started thinking about it and I found myself hearing this voice in my head that was saying, you know what, you really should think about that again.
Maybe that's an opportunity you don't want to miss out on.
And I started looking at programs and I thought to myself, wait a second, I think that this is what I do really want and that I should just go for it because I don't know when I will have this opportunity again.
Yeah. So I decided to just go for it. And I went and I it was probably one of the best decisions I've made.
So I think that there's something to be said about, you know, kind of trusting your gut instinct.
And trusting that voice. Right. Sometimes there's that really like vague and soft voice as something is telling us that maybe this is something we should try.
Yeah. I mean, to me, it's worse to not explore the opportunity and to always wonder in the future.
I don't I don't want to have regrets. Right.
Right. I think that that's something that we all fear is having having a lot of regrets.
And so I knew, you know, I think that that's what the voice is telling you.
Right. Like you will regret it if you don't take this opportunity.
And so I think that when deciding, you know, what opportunities to take, I think that you definitely have to think, will you regret it if you don't?
See details online. Yeah. So for our listeners who maybe, who knows, I mean, maybe they have the opportunity to come to the U.S. or to go to England to study English or to do an internship.
You know, I always recommend, you know, spending time in a quiet place.
Yeah. To try to hear that voice and give that voice a little bit of space to come through.
Because it's good to make an informed decision.
It's good to make lists of pros and cons.
But at the end of the day, I put more weight on that voice.
I completely agree. I think somehow you have to trust yourself.
You have to trust that you really know what's best for yourself.
You know it better than anybody else and better than a pro and con list can tell you, right?
That's right. And it's hard because sometimes people in our lives are selfish and they will tell you what they want you to do because of the way it could affect them.
Right. Absolutely. So you have to listen just to what do you want, you know?
Yeah. So again, I think you use the phrase to pass up an opportunity, right?
Right. So we don't want to pass up. What does that mean to pass up?
Basically, pass up an opportunity would be that you don't do something.
You don't commit to doing something that is a good opportunity for your life.
So if I passed up an opportunity, if I didn't go on study abroad, I would have passed up that opportunity.
Right. So you let it go. Exactly. I let it go.
Just throw it away. Yeah, that's a good natural phrase that you guys can use in your everyday language.
It's just a natural phrasal verb, right?
So pass something up, right? I passed it up.
I had an opportunity to study in France or England and I passed it up.
But in your case, you didn't pass it up, right?
Right, right. And it was a great, the greatest time.
So I'm so happy that I didn't. And I think usually you are happy with the decisions you make if you make the decision that you really want.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Or at least, you know, maybe you take the opportunity and you realize that it's not for you.
But what's the worst that could happen, right?
That's always a good question to ask yourself.
What is the worst that can happen? You know, for our listeners, if you take the opportunity to come to the U.S. and get transferred to the U.S. for your job or come here to be an intern, what's the worst that can happen?
I mean, maybe you miss your country. Maybe you get embarrassed learning English.
I mean, there are worse things. Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I think that, you know, we get to sometimes fear leads us to make certain decisions.
Right. And so maybe you maybe you won't go somewhere for fear that something else will happen.
Like for me, I wasn't going to study abroad because I of my fear that I wouldn't be in this band anymore.
Right. Yeah. So, but I don't think that fear should, you know, take over, you know, your mind.
Yeah, so the recommendation is to just go to a quiet space where you can hear your own inner voice and make that decision for yourself as much as you can.
Definitely. I think that's a good tip. I'm going to try that one next time.
I can't guarantee it'll work, but that's my tip.
Okay, great. Thanks for joining us today, Michelle.
This has been great. Thank you so much. Yeah, take care.
Thanks, you too. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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