If you’re doing things right, people will knock on your door with business opportunities. Every so often, one of these opportunities will catch your attention.

While you already have a strategy—a path you’d outlined to get where you wanted to go, and a list of things you decided not to do—you’re figuring out how to fit the opportunity in it.

It may not be the exact kind of thing you were looking for. However, it could provide you with the resources, credibility, or education that gets you closer to your destination.

It might seem confusing to other people. You might look like you’re taking a scenic route, or maybe even a step back. But maybe the opportunity sets you up to get where you want to go with greater stability, clarity, and confidence. 

Maybe you can shape the opportunity so you can still execute your strategic plan at the same time, and minimize the commitment needed. It’s worth giving serious consideration. 

You have to assess: what makes this opportunity worth the attempt? Is it worth the tradeoff in focus? Will you be able to walk away from it later? 

Or is it, ultimately, a distraction—an escape that you’re seeking in order to avoid the difficult, strategic, work?

This requires the craft of discernment: knowing when to keep a tight and willful focus, and when to loosen up.