OPPORTUNITY

 

OPPORTUNITY:    MAKING USE OF OPPORTUNITIES

          Life is a bundle of opportunities for the discerning. Often the saying ‘opportunity knocks but once’ is a sane advice to remember. It is important to recognize the foregoing suggestions for their value in guiding our approach. In the process, some criteria determine the success ratio of our attempt. Foremost among them is to ‘know’ what opportunity means.

        Opportunity:             ‘a chance to progress or for advancement’

                                          ‘a time or a set of circumstances  that help to do something’

                                          ‘a situation which needs to be appropriately utilized’

     Equal opportunity:       ‘an occasion where all persons of a description have the same opportunity,     

                                           with no undue favour or discrimination against’.

     Opportunity Cost:       ‘Loss of other alternatives when one alternative is chosen’

     All these observations merely indicate what an opportunity is; they do not suggest the approaches that may help in grabbing an opportunity or about the methods of ‘reaching a state of readiness’ to do it. 

 

    Preamble

   While opportunities appear to be equal, what determines the ‘success’ of the individual is not the opportunity itself; but how best one makes use of the opportunity. If success is our aim, our focus should be on converting a chance into an opportunity. Therefore, personal equipment of the individual matters the most, in making the best of an opportunity. ‘Personal equipment’ goes beyond the common attainments of qualification. That is why equally qualified persons do not succeed equally. Components of ‘personal equipment’ together confer personality on to each individual. Personality includes mental ability and repertoire of a range of abilities. As a part of education, each person should strive to acquire skills that portray a ‘streamlined’ personality by any process of evaluation. Personality building is a useful but complex process of acquiring capabilities of work, disposition, group compatibility and perpetual willingness to learn.   

       When to begin personality building?

        There is no justification for delaying the process; yes, it should begin here and now and should stay a part of ourselves till we complete our existence. In plain terms non-stop learning is the right technique of glorious development of personality. The instant question is what to learn? The answer is ‘everything’. It begins with ‘ego blasting’ from a humble acceptance that ‘we need to learn a lot and our learning is just in its beginning’. Truly, personality building is based on skill building.

 

     PARAMETERS OF VALUE IN SKILL-BUILDING

     Observation 

     Skills are natural and inborn. Yet, it is grooming that prunes the efficacy of skill acquisition. Most valid in skill-building is the process of observation. Observation is a passive learning strategy. All keen observers are good learners and vice-versa. Observation includes the application of receptive faculties of vision, hearing and assessment of facts and their veracity on every occasion. In fact ‘hands on’ training is a session of practising from observation. Critical observation helps to collect proper information. Cultivating the skills of observation is an indirect way identifying, learning and practicing right methods.

         Learning by understanding                                                                                                                            

        Of the different forms of learning, the one through understanding is the best mode. It eliminates the chance of losing from memory; losing from memory is a feature of ‘memorizing’ statements/ data. Memorizing taxes the mind. Also, memorizing does not help to identify ‘connectivity’ between ideas and themes. Therefore, at each step, understanding the information is essential to avoid exhaustion of mind by saturation. In its simplicity, the process of understanding begins from words, meanings and connotations. Mastering those words for situations is a strategy of convincing the listeners/ recipients. Learning becomes enjoyable only if the statements are appropriately understood.  Elegance in presentation makes learning enjoyable and convincing. It simultaneously applies to teacher and taught alike. Also, it is the ease of learning that promotes the desire for elegance. Understanding is the fundamental tool for ‘comprehension’-the ultimate strength in knowledge-seeking.    

 

          Analytic out look

          Any idea, information or knowledge can be ‘assimilated’ by analyzing the varied facets of information. It is the true value of education. Only by analysis, right weightage for information can be accorded. Decision-making suffers from bad weightage influencing the analysis. Right component in right quantity is the best combination in any process. As a practice, students must take to analysis as a component of learning; without the support of analysis, knowledge does not lead anywhere. Analysis cannot be added as a secondary element in comprehension. Rather, the degree of comprehension rests on clear analysis. Learning has to be hinged to analysis just as words and spelling are learnt together. So, we need to prompt and promote the culture of analysis as a part of learning. Persons who lay emphasis on to analysis-knowledge ensemble stand greater chance in making the best of an opportunity.

         Presentation

         Any effort to make use of an opportunity requires elegant portrayal of an idea. The act of doing it is presentation. It has two components- physical and verbal; the former relates to the ‘appearance’ of the individual and ‘body language’ thereof. The verbal component is an exposition of skill.  Arguments and corroborative evidence must flow in tandem in a natural and lucid style. Assembling of facts must be in a logical sequence to ‘win’ acceptance and appreciation. However, artificial intonation must be scrupulously avoided. Overzealous thrusting of views would prove counterproductive. Acting smart has the risk of inviting deeper scrutiny of ability. Polite expressions with apt terms can tilt balance in our favour.  Impression need not be created; rather it should be derived by observers.

         Disposition – a component of presentation

         Disposition is an important element of presentation.  Just as we prefer being heard, we should lend attention to what others say, before we try to make a submission. It is a kind of ‘give and take’ orientation with appropriate sharing of viewpoints.  Either staying moot or trying to overpower any other stand point is bound to be considered a negative disposition. By displaying the right blend of response to each important issue on an occasion, the participant convinces the evaluators/ fellow competitors of ‘thoroughness’ in the work undertaken.  Besides these elements of interpersonal nature, willingness to consider every view point is taken as a positive feature. On all such moments, the style of language employed matters the most; avoidance of slang, inappropriate expressions and terms of regional dialect is the best strategy of proving a ‘cultured’ attitude in interaction.

                                  To continue                                           Prof.  K. Raman