False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

Work hard to spot opportunities and seize 
them without procrastination.
You probably know the motto of the Boy Scouts: 
“Be prepared.”
To find new opportunities to increase your 
wealth, you, too, should adhere to it.
In the previous blink, you saw how looking for 
and seizing opportunities can produce good 
luck, but the other side of the coin is that letting 
opportunities slip through your fingers produces 
bad luck, missed opportunities and “If only I had. 
. .” stories.
So why do people forego opportunities?
Far too often it is because they procrastinate.
For example, if the entrepreneur in the previous 
blink had decided not to invest in the new 3D 
television technology and had instead waited for 
it to prove itself properly and become more 
established, the inventor would have surely 
found someone else to invest in their product. 
You can’t wait for opportunities to be handed to 
you on a silver platter; you must be proactive 
and seize them or you’ll miss out.
If you want to increase the flow of opportunities 
that you see, you simply have to work hard. 
Study and investigate the areas you’re 
interested in and build a network, so you’ll be 
better able to spot and appreciate opportunities 
when they do come around.
Remember though that golden opportunities 
really are rare, even if you work hard. This 
means you might have to wait a while and this 
can be discouraging because it seems your hard 
work isn’t producing any results.
But your endurance will pay off eventually when 
an opportunity does become apparent.
For example, imagine an entrepreneur who has 
invented a radio which requires no electricity at 
all. She works hard to perfect her product, and 
then goes around pitching it to investors. For a 
year, every single potential investor rejects it, 
saying, “Who listens to the radio nowadays?”
Though disappointed, she keeps at it, until one 
day an investor realizes that the product is 
perfect for developing countries with poor power 
grids. The product eventually goes on to become 
a great success: her patience paid off.
In the final blink, you’ll discover what actions 
lead to financial ruin – and how to avoid them.