One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

Opportunity gets described as luck, but the visible part of luck is whether anyone was prepared. Chances arrive with short notice and no negotiation, and the work that makes them usable was done months earlier by someone who had no specific reason to do it. That is the uncomfortable part: readiness has to be built before there is any evidence it will be needed.

Think of the opening you would most want, and ask what would be required of you within a week of getting it. Build the weakest of those things now, quietly. It is the only preparation that does not depend on predicting which door opens.