This title doesn't mean that you shouldn't take every chance presented, but it's from my own experience — I don't take many chances. I've always had quite a passive outlook on risk and taking opportunities, but recently I've realized how important these rare chances or moments can be, kind of like fate, if it can be called that.
For some backstory, since I'm in my last year of high school, there's been some tension and stress about what happens if I don't get good enough scores to continue studying what I like. Across all schools, there's just one field that really calls out to me. I don't have any backups, and nothing else has crossed my mind.
During 12 years of learning, I've only taken part in one olympiad. They're quite popular and are a good way to get into college or university. I guess I just feel like I'm not smart enough, and I'm sure there are so many students smarter than me. In 10th grade, I took part in a computer science olympiad, where I didn't place very well.
Fast forward to today. Here are the two opportunities I took.
1. AI Olympiad
The school sent out an email promoting an AI olympiad. After learning more about it, I saw that it's the first time Estonia is taking part in it. Because you could complete the first two rounds at home, and with my interest in tech and AI, I thought: "why not?" and registered.
I completed the first round thinking it was quite easy and got to the second round. The second round was tougher, but mainly confusing, and I didn't know if I did well or not. One night, though, I got an email telling me I got to the 3rd and final round. At first I was just happy, but later, while browsing through the university's requirements, it stated that participating in the final round of some STEM olympiads would grant you a spot. The AI olympiad was listed, so I was in.
TL;DR A random olympiad popped up, and having only participated in one before, I thought what do I have to lose? I got to the final round and got into my favourite university.
2. Field test
The university is hosting an event presenting the field I'm interested in. It's currently the 5th year they've done it, and for me it was the second time attending.
This year they had something new—a field test at the end of the event. The top 10 were guaranteed a spot in the field, and of course I was interested. But there was a problem — spring break had just ended, and there hadn't been any math lessons. My brain was completely fried, and I had zero preparation. Luckily, math wasn't the only thing in the test.
At the end of the test, I had just one thought: "Well, I have to take the regular exams" (I didn't have the olympiad results yet). It went that badly. In the math section, I completed maybe two or three out of five. To make it worse, from what I could tell, there were more than 50 participants, although I don't know what percentage were 12th graders.
One day after practice, I was going through my inbox. There was an email from the event's leader, and the preview sentence was something like "I'm glad to announce...". I quickly opened the mail, and sure enough, somehow I had made it into the top 10. No idea how — I had completely flunked the test. Compared to the AI olympiad, where I still have to go and take part in the final round, here I already got an actual diploma with my name on it.
TL;DR My second year at the event, they hosted a field test for the first time and even though I thought I did horribly, I got in.
To conclude this yap, I'd say that these two situations felt like miracles. They happened so close together and right at a time of uncertainty and stress. Somehow, in some weird way, two fields — tech and AI — presented opportunities to me, and for some reason, I took them, when usually I haven't really taken part in things like this.
That's it, I guess. Wait for these golden opportunities and take them. You don't have to grab every chance you get, but even just a select few, especially when they appear at the right time, can change everything.