Oppor-too-nity
Two centuries ago, your path in life was largely predetermined. If your father was a blacksmith, odds were you'd become one too. If your family owned a farm, that land would likely be your future.
In a way, life was this straightforward journey with clear signposts and well-worn paths to follow. There was comfort in knowing exactly where you were headed, even if that destination wasn't necessarily of your choosing.
I think it's this rather simplistic aspect of previous times that makes some modern people feel nostalgic for an era they "never" experienced.
Nowadays, the landscape of possibility has exploded beyond recognition.
Sometimes and especially for me, my mind boggles when I think about having the opportunity to learn quantum physics from world-class professors for free.
Very few could have thought that a time will come when a teenager with a smart device has more access to knowledge, opportunities, and potential careers than even the wealthiest individual from the past could imagine.
The Modern Opportunity Landscape
In theory, we live in an era where a single individual can simultaneously be a full-time software engineer, run a YouTube channel, teach online courses, invest in cryptocurrencies, start a dropshipping business, and write a novel – all while documenting their journey on social media.
The barriers to entry for most pursuits have shrunken or crumbled entirely, and the democratization of opportunity has transformed what's possible for the general and global populace.
A writer in rural India can reach millions of readers, just as well as an artist in Brazil can sell their digital art to collectors worldwide. It isn't that hard to realize that a programmer living in Latvia can work remotely for Silicon Valley startups.
What I'm trying to say is that the traditional gatekeepers have lost much of their power, and the playing field, although not entirely level, is more accessible than ever before.
The reason why I mentioned "in theory" earlier is because this abundance of opportunity comes with its own unique challenges that makes it quite hard to implement in practice, especially from an individual perspective.
Put in another way, should you spend your evening learning Python, working on your side business, or taking that online marketing course?
Against the backdrop of our limited time and energy, we face countless micro-decisions about where to invest our time, energy, and resources.
And needless to say, every choice carries an opportunity cost, i.e the invisible price of all the paths not taken.
Without even getting into decision fatigue, this myth of "keeping options open" further compounds this problem.
I can vividly remember some moments back telling myself that by not committing fully to any single path, I'm maintaining flexibility and security, in the sense that I could pivot whenever the "perfect" opportunity presented itself or when I finally figured out what I really wanted to do.
In reality, such an approach more often than not leads to scattered efforts and minimal progress across multiple fronts.
Personal Responsibility Factor
I think the jack of all trades, master of none syndrome is gradually becoming the default state for many ambitious individuals in the modern age.
Now, the abundance of opportunities isn't the villain in this story. It's our relationship with it that needs examination.
We can think of it like a person walking into a library with millions of books, the problem isn't that there are too many books; it's that the person hasn't defined what they want to learn or why they're there in the first place.
The antidote of having access to many opportunities is simply learning the discipline to say "not now" to most of them.
Interestingly, this requires something that's becoming increasingly rare in our fast-paced world: self-reflection and clear personal values.
I wonder if there's some correlation between lack of clear personal values and our increasing tendency to chase every shiny new opportunity that crosses our path.
In my own case, when I look back at my most scattered periods, they somehow always coincided with times when I wasn't clear about my own definition of success.
Without this needed clarity, every opportunity seems equally valid and every path equally appealing. No element of differentiation.
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