#HOW to Get an Opportunity Mindset
Here’s your quick win. The keystone habit.
Here’s your quick win. The keystone habit.
The old playbook tells you to chase problems, work harder, and wait for gradual transformation. You don’t need years of hustle to shift your mindset. You need one tiny practice. A practice that rewires how you see the world and how you respond to it.
That practice is tagging your life with three little signals:
#hmm: curiosity. Something odd or surprising.
#ouch: pain or frustration.
#wow: delight or amazement.
Together, they spell #HOW. That’s how you flip your brain from problems to opportunities.
The Practice
It works like this:
Notice. Pay attention to small moments. Look inside. Look outside.
Tag it. Write #hmm, #ouch, or #wow.
Pause. Don’t solve it yet. Just tag it.
Review. At day’s or week’s end, look back. Patterns will emerge.
Opportunities appear.
When you review, notice which tag sparks energy. That spark is volition. That’s your instinct saying, “This one matters”.
Don’t ignore it. If you feel strongly about one, act. Take a small, intentional step. That’s how you start profiting from opportunities.
If you tag something with multiple hashtags, #hmm #ouch #wow. That’s gold. It means you’ve hit a compounding opportunity. The more tags, the more attention it deserves.
Make It Physical
Sometimes I wear a simple silicone bracelet. Nothing fancy. It just says #mvp #hmm #ouch #wow.
Why? It interrupts autopilot. When my mind starts drifting back into grind mode, the bracelet on my wrist reminds me to be mindful and tag the moment.
That little nudge is enough to keep me present.
What if you changed your phone lock screen? You could set it to say #hmm. It could remind you ten times a day that curiosity is your compass.
Your version doesn’t have to be a bracelet or lock screen. It might be an analog notebook, like Field Notes, or a shortcut on your phone that emails or messages you your own tag. The point is frictionless noticing.
Choose a trigger that works for you, and commit. Not just today, but for the rest of your life. These three hashtags will outlive trends, hacks, and productivity systems. They’re that durable.
Why It Works
Each tag flips the script of the BIG Playbook:
#hmm turns curiosity into opportunity. The old playbook says curiosity is a distraction. MVP says curiosity is a compass.
#ouch reframes pain into opportunity. The old playbook says fix the problem. MVP says the pain itself is pointing you to an opening.
#wow multiplies success into opportunity. The old playbook says enjoy the win and move on. MVP says wins are clues. Double down.
Every time you tag, you interrupt the old pattern. You weaken the Problem Mindset. You strengthen the Opportunity Mindset.
Over time, your brain literally rewires. Neuroplasticity means attention changes structure. By tagging #hmm, #ouch, and #wow, you’re training your brain to spot doors where you used to see walls.
A Day in the Life
Picture a solopreneur’s week:
#hmm: You notice three clients asking the same question in different words. That’s not noise. That’s a signal. Maybe a blog post, a FAQ, or even a new product.
#ouch: You keep getting stuck every month when it’s time to send invoices. That pain isn’t just frustration. It’s an invitation to automate, delegate, or design a smoother process.
#wow: You land a referral from someone you haven’t spoken to in years. Instead of chalking it up to luck, tag it. That’s evidence of reputation momentum you can build on.
#hmm #ouch: You see a competitor fumbling in an area where clients are frustrated. That’s curiosity and pain overlapping — ripe for a pivot.
#hmm #wow: You experiment with a new format on LinkedIn and engagement doubles. That’s curiosity plus delight. That’s not a fluke, it’s a formula.
Five ordinary moments, one extraordinary habit. Tag them, review them, act on them with volitional authenticity. That’s the Opportunity Mindset in action.
My Client Zero Moment
I didn’t invent this overnight. I stumbled into it.
In the comics industry, I noticed myself mindfully noticing significant things in my head: That’s strange… that hurts… that’s amazing. At the time, I didn’t call them hashtags. But I couldn’t stop noticing them.
One day, I looked back and realized: every major pivot I’d made, every win, had started with one of those little moments. A surprising conversation. A painful bottleneck or issue. An unexpected success.
The old playbook told me to grind harder. But the real breakthroughs came when I tagged those moments and acted. That’s when the pattern snapped into focus. I learned that rapid transformation is real.
I became Client Zero of my own framework. And it worked.
Applications Everywhere
These tags aren’t limited to business strategy. They apply across your life:
Marketing: A post that sparks more comments than usual (#wow) — lean in.
Products: A customer pain point (#ouch) that keeps surfacing — build around it.
Energy: A meeting that leaves you drained (#ouch) or energized (#wow) — redesign your calendar.
Relationships: A conversation that lingers in your head (#hmm) — follow up.
Learning: A surprising trend (#hmm) — research deeper.
Every domain of your solopreneur life can be tagged. Every tag is a breadcrumb to opportunity.
Extra Credit: #ideas
Once you’re comfortable with #hmm, #ouch, and #wow, add one more: #ideas.
Because once your brain is tuned to opportunities, ideas will flow. Too many, sometimes. #ideas are your way of catching them without chasing them all.
The Call to Action
Here’s the truth: if you only take one practice from this series, take this one.
#hmm. #ouch. #wow.
Your keystone habit. Your #HOW.
This is how you change your mindset, your playbook, and your future.