Preparation Meets Opportunity-Luck!

Greetings from my homeland, Bamenda, Cameroon, to my fellow Steemians!

It is often said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.

On January 2nd, 2024, I visited one of theprivate professional schools in Bamenda. I went there to discuss with the administration the possibility of holding a personal development talk session for their students.

This particular day (January 2nd, 2024) was the first day back from the winter break. On days like that, schoolwork is usually limited to cleaning and preparing the environment for classes to resume effectively.

When I shared my intentions with the administration, they loved the idea! They told me the students weren't doing much that day and that it would be a waste for them to go home without learning something valuable. They suggested I speak to the students on the spot. This surprised me because I didn't expect such easy permission. Additionally, I was dressed casually and hadn't prepared a presentation specifically for that day. However, since I introduced myself as a trained speaker and didn't want to damage my credibility, I couldn't reject the offer. I accepted.

They gathered the approximately 300 students who were present that day into a single hall and introduced me.

Taking the stage, I began speaking. About four teachers came to observe my presentation, so I made sure to deliver my best effort even though I lacked my usual level of preparation.

The plan was to speak for just 30-45 minutes, but the audience's positive response made me feel more relaxed, and I ended up speaking for three hours!

I shared with the students the value of collaboration inside and outside of school, the importance of staying healthy and strong (vitality) for achieving success, and the importance of continuous learning and hard work.

After my presentation, I received a standing ovation. Many students connected with the content I shared, and several approached me afterward for my contact information to stay in touch. When I returned to thank the administration for the opportunity, they surprised me with a question: "When are you coming back?" They expressed their appreciation for my presentation and the students' response and proposed that I return to speak to a larger group.

Since that day, I have been invited back to the same school to give personal development presentations about seven times. One of the teachers even approached me with his wife, requesting to financially compensate me for public speaking training.

The moral of this story is that it's better to be prepared for an opportunity that may not come than to be unprepared when it does. The presentation I delivered that day was part of a series I had developed and practiced numerous times beforehand. I just didn't know when or where I would present them. The opportunity finally arrived, and preparation met it head-on. Because of that particular day, many young people were positively impacted, and I've witnessed many of them putting the lessons I shared into practice.

This experience reminds me of the third time I visited the school. A young man approached me with four of his friends, and together they declared, "Sir, you have changed our lives!" That sentiment touched me deeply because my goal when speaking to any audience is to connect with at least two people on a heart level. That's how I find fulfillment in what I do.