When Opportunity Arrives Before You’re Ready

When Opportunity Arrives Before You’re Ready

Are You Ready for the Opportunities You Say You Want?

Most riders talk about wanting opportunities.

Very few are prepared for what those opportunities actually demand.

Before talent becomes the limiting factor, identity usually does.

That’s something I learned the hard way.

When the Door First Opened

In 2006, I committed fully to pursuing motocross at the highest level I could reach.

At the time, I was working as a carpenter to support myself while training intensively under experienced professional guidance. Every Wednesday was dedicated to training. Saturdays were spent supporting structured coaching environments. I travelled across Europe racing and immersing myself in the professional racing environment I believed I needed to grow.

My life narrowed quickly.

Work.

Training.

Travel.

Racing.

Recovery.

That level of focus is not glamorous. It is repetitive, isolating, and demanding. But it is necessary.

Exposure to a Bigger Reality

Being embedded in high-level environments exposed me to a version of professional motocross I hadn’t previously understood.

Not just how top riders trained — but how they lived.

Where they based themselves.

How often they relocated.

How little their lives resembled anything “normal.”

It forced a question I hadn’t fully confronted:

Was I actually ready for the opportunities I was asking for?

Because opportunity doesn’t arrive gently.

It arrives suddenly and asks for everything.

The Moment of Truth

One moment remains clear.

I received a phone call while sitting in the car with my girlfriend.

An unexpected European championship entry had become available. Departure was in days.

This was exactly the kind of opportunity riders say they want.

I was ready to rearrange work immediately. The excitement was real.

But when the call ended, the response beside me wasn’t shared excitement.

It was an ultimatum.

“If you go, I won’t be here when you get back.”

I didn’t go.

The Cost of Hesitation

That decision wasn’t isolated.

It became a pattern.

Another opportunity followed , extended time training in the United States. I did spend time there, but I chose to fly home. My exact words at the time were: ‘If I don’t go home now, there won’t be a relationship to go back to.’ In that moment, I feared losing love more than I trusted the opportunity in front of me. Again, I chose familiarity over possibility. Stability over uncertainty. Comfort over growth.

At the time, I believed I was being responsible.

In reality, I was protecting an identity that wasn’t capable of holding what I was asking for.

Those guiding me could see my potential more clearly than I could. I was focused on what I might lose rather than who I could become.

Talent wasn’t the issue.

Work ethic wasn’t the issue.

Access wasn’t the issue.

Readiness was.

The Real Lesson

Looking back, I don’t frame this as regret — but as understanding.

I wasn’t ready then.

Not because I lacked desire, but because my internal structure couldn’t support the life required to progress further.

Opportunity doesn’t fail people.

People fail opportunity by being internally misaligned with it.

This is something I now see repeatedly in riders.

They want advancement without disruption.

Growth without displacement.

Progress without sacrifice.

That combination doesn’t exist.

What Younger Riders Often Miss

When you are young, responsibilities are lighter than they will ever be again.

That window is not infinite.

There is time later to build stability, relationships, and routine. There is far less time to chase development when life becomes layered with obligations.

The mistake isn’t choosing relationships.

The mistake is choosing them unconsciously while telling yourself you are still fully committed.

Opportunity requires clarity.

Why This Matters Now

I share this not as advice, but as perspective earned through consequence.

My role now is to help riders recognise where they may be unknowingly blocking themselves — not through lack of effort, but through internal contradiction.

Talent opens doors.

Identity determines whether you walk through them.

If an opportunity asked you to live elsewhere, train differently, or step away from what feels safe — would you be ready?

That question matters more than lap times.

Final Thought

You don’t need to decide everything today.

But you do need to be honest about what you are actually prepared to give up for what you say you want.

Because when opportunity arrives, it rarely waits for certainty.

It waits for readiness.

“You have to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice who you are for who you will become.”

— Eric Thomas (inspired by Charles Dickens)

Thanks for reading.