Cognition

Cognition, Opportunity, and Learning a New Language

English has a wider global reach than any language in history.

It has become the world’s lingua franca in a range of domains, including business, politics, science, technology, academia, and entertainment.

On top of that, real-time language translation technology continues to get faster and more accurate.

Why, then, would a native English speaker in today’s world want or need to learn another language?

How Your Emotions Influence Opportunity Evaluation

Ideas are not opportunities.

We often have great ideas, but for us to determine whether an idea represents a genuine opportunity for us, we must assess several internal and external factors.

Does this idea relate to my interest or vision? Does it suit my knowledge, skills, and experience? Do I have the resources to support its development? Does this idea have the potential to generate revenue, or to produce some other desired benefit? Are there any major personal, financial, market, legal, or regulatory obstacles that would prevent me from implementing this idea?

And sometimes we will evaluate an idea and see its opportunity, only to ultimately decide that it might be a great opportunity for someone, but that it isn’t suitable for us. At least not at the time.

Many people – most notably entrepreneurs – may be quite adept at the sum and substance feasibility analysis of opportunity evaluation. But they may entirely overlook the impact that their own emotions can have on this evaluative process.

6 Factors That Impact Opportunity Recognition

In late 2010, an entrepreneur, inventor, and lifelong tinkerer was busy in his Southern California garage working on his latest idea – a modular gardening system.

He had an annoying problem, though. He kept missing delivery people and other visitors because he couldn’t hear the doorbell from his garage.

So, he searched for a product that could send a push notification to his phone when someone rang. Not finding such a solution, he cobbled together a Wi-Fi doorbell.

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