The Semi-Opportunity

Much nuance behind how to assess if an opportunity is a good fit for you.

Let me explain.

Not all opportunities are equal – The size of an opportunity doesn’t often reflect its depth, that is to say its implications on multiple life aspects. So the size often means “What’s the probability of that thing working?”; the answer could be so high and in which case it’s a Big Opportunity. But the depth is often more intangible, even more hypothetical, and probably doesn’t provide concrete answers, so something like “How much comfort it provides?”, “Is the timing good?”, “What are the indirect implications?”, etc. Answers to those depth questions could be the same whether an opportunity is big or not.

For the overly analytical mind, it could be so hard to try come up with meaning behind every single opportunity they take on. In that sense, I’ve noticed a line between opportunities that present themselves as “sure-fire” versus opportunities that are “just-in-case”.

That line is called “The Semi-Opportunity” – It’s when an opportunity seems big to ignore but often comes with so much hidden costs that people would deliberately ignore in order to score close wins.

The Semi-Opportunity is a dangerous thing, especially when it’s chose