When I played basketball, I started out training on empty outdoor courts. 

Some players find it hard to get a court to themselves to practice on at a public park. I did, too — until I noticed that most players came to the park only when the sun was down. It was too hot during the day. 

I decided that it wasn’t too hot for me, and had the courts to myself. 

When I moved my sessions indoors, most of my workouts were in empty gyms. 

By this point, I was publishing my workouts to YouTube. Players wondered how I got these whole gyms to myself. 

There was no magic to it. I just came to the gym every day, at whatever time the gym opened — too early for most players. Especially when there was nothing forcing them to be early. 

I mean, who wakes up early just to wake up early? Not many basketball players. 

There’s a popular strawberry farm (they have some great baked goods, too) located just outside of Miami whose open season is from November-April. 

The lines at this place are super-long for all of the first two months. 

By “long” I mean 3-4 hours-wait-time long. 

If you pull up to this same farm/bakery between January-April, when it’s selling the same stuff as it is now, there’s no line. 

Five minutes, in and out. 

By definition, opportunity exists when there’s a chance for you to do something. Chances are often fewer when competition increases, ie more people who have the same idea. 

When you do the same as what everyone else is doing, while there may be opportunity, there’d likely be a whole lot more of it if you’d eliminate the masses from the equation. 

Thing is, not of this is a secret. 

Waking up early to access an empty gym, working out during peak heat and humidity hours, or waiting until the popularity rush dies down to save 4 hours are ideas hidden in plain sight. 

Anyone can do them. Present such an idea to most people, though, and you get some form of, “for what? No one else is doing that.” 

The habit of following the crowd is hard to break.