Lessons from the UFC – Seizing Opportunities

Seizing Opportunities – If you are a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, you will know that a lot of the cards in the last few months have been wrecked by injuries.

John Jones was supposed to fight Dan Henderson in the beginning of the month.  Henderson suffered a knee injury and was out.  Lyoto Machida, next in line for the title shot, turned down the fight.

Up steps, Vitor Belfort.  Vitor, known as the “Phenom”, has been around the UFC since the late 90s.  He burst on the scene as a teenager and lost a fight to the 185 lb champion Anderson Silva about 2 years ago.

Vitor was nowhere in line for the title shot but he made the decision to accept the fight and, as a result he could be the World Champion in a few weeks.

Seizing Opportunities

Here are some lessons that you can take from this situation -

Know your goal - Most UFC fighters have the goal of being the champion.  That means that they should take steps and actions that get them closer to the championship.  When a fight with the champ comes up they should seize the opportunity.  There should be no thought or delay.  I would think that the top 5 in the World would be planning out how they are going win the title in their mind every day.  Now, I am oversimplifying this situation, but it seems that every single one of the fighters should accept a title shot.  Do you accept the title shots in your life?

Act decisively - Life will always throw you curveballs.  You have no idea what will come next or what opportunities will be made available to you.  However, when the opportunities arise, make sure to take decisive action and move aggressively towards your goals.  If you make a mistake, then you can correct quickly, but it is very unlikely that you can make a choice that will take you too far off path.

When you are scared, just jump - If you are scared to take an action that is the time to just jump right in.  Another way to say it is just dive right in.  Fear is there to keep you safe.  To achieve your goals, you need to get out of your safety zone and out of your comfort zone.  Jump when you are afraid and you will have an awesome life.

Make it a great day.