These are among my most favourite quotes from Dr Maxwell Maltz, especially from the standpoint of developing opportunity sensitivity:

• "What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live -- with your self-respect alive and growing.";

• “Close scrutiny will show that most "crisis situations" are opportunities to either advance, or stay where you are.”

• “Successful people are able to rise above crises by relaxing no matter what the external situation. Their belief in themselves, the strength of their self-image is impenetrable armor, which protects them against shattering events.”

• "Stand up to crises. Don’t let them throw you! Fight to stay calm… even surmount the crisis completely and turn it into an opportunity. Refuse to renounce your self-image. No matter what happens, you must keep your good opinion of yourself. No matter what happens, you must hold your past successes in your imagination, ready for showing in the motion picture screen of your mind. No matter what happens, no matter what you lose, no matter what failures you must endure, you must keep faith in yourself. Then you can stand up to crises, with calm and courage, refusing to buckle; then you will not fall through the floor. You will be able to support yourself";

From Chapter 13, I have excerpted the following passage pertaining to "How to Turn a Crisis Into a Creative Opportunity" to highlight in particular the recommended mental strategies and tactics:

• The best public speakers perform a kind of shadow-boxing which is by delivering their speech to their own image in the mirror. You become “a human icicle,” immune to pressure, not worrying how you’ll perform, but depending on muscle memory to execute the various motions you have learned;

• Shadow-boxing turns on self-expression. “Express” literally means to push out, to exert, to show forth. “Inhibit” means to restrict. Self expression is pushing out the powers, talents, abilities, of the self. It means turning on your own life and letting it shine;

• Hugh Casey, one of the most successful and calmest pitchers of all time was asked what he thought of when he was sent into a game in the middle of a situation. “I always think about what I am going to do, and what I want to happen instead of what the batter is going to do or what may happen to me.” He concentrated on what he wanted to happen, felt that he could make it happen, and that it usually did;

• The secret lies in the attitude of fearlessly accepting the challenge and confidently expanding our strength. It means maintaining “no matter what happens, I can handle it” instead of: I hope nothing happens;

As I re-read and recap them, here's my end analysis: 

The seemingly subtle essential message I have had actually gotten out of all these cogitations of mine is this harsh reality, which I have had in fact already expressed earlier:

It's up to our creative resourcefulness to deal with any issues, or problems or challenges that come our way.

Let me elaborate: 

Our creativity has a lot to do with our resourcefulness. It is our quick thinking and agile maneuverability to make something out of perceivably nothing that allows us to stand out amongst the crowd.

We must always remain "foolish and hungry" (many thanks to the late Steve Jobs!).

Drawing intellectual cues from Tony Robbins:

"Success is not about resources; it's about how resourceful we are with what we have [and what we know (my insert)]!"

As a parting shot, I would certainly encourage all of you to look for the opportunity in any crisis situation, but be respectful of the dangers, for sure.

Enjoy your re-reading, exploration and assimilation!