Opportunity is knocking. Are you listening?

Opportunity can be like being the 50,000th customer and getting one of those giant checks, balloons, and confetti as door prizes. The right place at the right time. If you're anything like me, that never happens. I don't even score the free breakfast sandwiches in McDonald's yearly Monopoly game. (Which really sucks because those Sausage Egg McMuffins are addictive!)

I don't have time to see if I'll roll double sixes and land on Boardwalk. Just deal out the properties and lets get on with it! I abduct Luck; I have to make my own luck...or lead it where I want it to go.

Today, my Ranters, I'm going to teach you how.

Rule Number 1: Don't Be Afraid

Too often I meet people who don't try to cross the road without a crosswalk. They don't take risks. They're too afraid to let people see who they really are or what they want. They're too afraid to ask mom for a cookie out of the cookie jar.

How can you get anything sweet if you don't go for it? Maybe it's telling the hot guy that holds the door for you when you walk into the office in the AM, (you know the one...you don't say anything because you're too busy wiping up that spindle of drool hanging off your lip) that you like him. Maybe it's applying for that dream job your after--for the sixth time. Maybe it's sending the Facebook invite to your ex and attaching a personal note calling for a truce. Maybe it's none of those, but it's important to you.

The point is if you're too afraid to throw the line in, you're never going to catch any fish.

Rule Number 2: Don't Take No for an Answer

OK you told the hot guy you like him and he turned you down. OK so you didn't get the job you wanted--for the sixth time. And, OK fine, maybe your ex wrote you back and said "he's not giving you your unique collection of sea glass back (Because he used it to tile a table for his living room). Yes, those all suck. But you don't have to take 'em lying down!

Next time hot guy holds the door for you, walk through backwards shaking your head. Accessorize it with your, "see what you're missing out on" face. If he doesn't rethink his, no, he'll at least know you're making a statement. It might be the wearing white after Labor Day statement, but it's a statement. Hold your head up. Even the hottest guy in the world isn't worth looking at your feet.

If you didn't get that job you wanted. Try again. Keep trying until they run out of options. Don't be rude. Don't tell them they made a mistake. But keep on them! Don't give up. Show them you're not afraid of a little 'no.' Show them you're not embarrassed they rejected you. Rejection-smection. They'll either realized what they missed or in the process you'll discover another path that's even sweeter.

And if your ex used your sea glass to make a table, have one of your mutual friends "accidentally" knock it over at his next Super Bowl party. We both know he's lazy and won't go through the trouble to fix it. You'll have that sea glass back in no time.

Rule Number 3: Be Flexible

One of the best ways to make your own luck is to have 8 lobsters on the boil. Have more than one goal. More than one dream. Don't get stuck on one if it doesn't work out. Be open. If you're open to what the Universe is throwing at you, you'll start to see all the [metaphorical] $20 bills sticking out of the muddy puddle on the side of the road. Good things happen when you collect enough of them.

Hot guy my not be so hot in 20 years. Hot guy might someday be fat and bald. It happens to the best of them. But the really nice guy in Accounting (The one who needs a new hair cut and someone to burn his purple paisley shirt) is always going to be nice. And with a new hair cut and a green stripped shirt he might just be a super hot guy incognito.

And your ex? Let's face it. He wasn't treating you like his $2,000 golf clubs. More like the left overs he had for lunch--plus he forgot to wash the plastic to-go container. Gross! You didn't need to put up with him then any more than you need to now. The longer he's weighing you down...the longer it's going to take before you can get Accounting Guy a new hair cut.


In Short: Just be Happy...by any means necessary.