I have been lucky enough to have some new opportunities come my way. I was obviously pretty excited about each of them. My first impulse was to just say yes immediately. If these were things that I had been working towards, then saying yes would have been absolutely the right thing to do. But these opportunities came out of the blue. How do I decide whether or not to take them?
I have a rule that I use when debating about a new opportunity to see if it the right thing for me. I call it the 24-hour rule. No, it isn’t because I can’t make decisions. It is much more about whether this new opportunity will take the focus away from what I am doing now.
Here are some key questions that I ask myself:
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Will this opportunity help to propel me forward to where I want to go or distract me?
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Do I have time to take on this new opportunity now?
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If I do it, how will I manage this new opportunity alongside my other priorities?
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Does the opportunity provide benefits that will help me?
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Is this a short-term or a long-term opportunity?
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Will I still have the flexibility in my life that I want?