#WiseWords Build Your Own Door

​"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Milton Berle.

So often we wait for opportunities to come to us. Opportunity will present itself, we think. When the time is right, we tell ourselves.

As an author, I know I've thought that myself. 

When I began to pursue writing very seriously, I made myself a name. What does that mean? I pressed my nose up against some windows. I went to conferences and walked the walk and did the talk. I met people that became excited for me. I became an author.

I got shot down with my pitches and editors thumbed their noses at me. What a great lesson in humility. Then opportunity knocked.

One day, in my email, came a shiny and brilliant email asking me to submit my work to a publisher because they wanted to publish me. (And they say it never works to put yourself out there. Look at that!) Being the eager author that I am (you know, the kind that is about to take over the world) I jumped in with both feet. Does it surprise you that it all crashed and burned around me? (I didn't think you'd be surprised.)

There is a process, and I'd done right by pushing my nose up against the glass, because my head was still above water, even if all my dreams were drowning. 

I had a future here, but it wasn't going to be at the hands of someone else. So I built a door. I built a platform that others soon wanted to stand on as well. When I opened that door of opportunity I had built, in the shape of a publishing company, all my dreams came true. Once my feet were in a stable position, I helped others achieve their dreams and then some of them built their own doors to opportunity.

I think, sometimes, opportunity got tired of knocking on doors and began to hide behind the raw wood of doors yet to be built. Build your own door, stand on your own platform. Seriously, push your nose up against the glass and look in. Whatever you want can happen for you.

#LivingPositiveIn2016

Happy Reading,
Bernadette Marie