A lot of people who have gone to business school or who work in large corporations will be familiar with the term "first-mover advantage." In commerce and marketing, "FMA" is the competitive advantage gained by being the first mover—or pioneer—in a particular market segment. If you stake the first claim, you get the advantages of establishing yourself as the initial market leader.
Gaining FMA requires two things: First you have to see an opportunity. Second, you have to act to seize that opportunity. And so it is with life in general. You can be the sort of person that things happen to, or you can be the sort of person who makes things happen. When you see a life opportunity and move quickly to grasp it, all sorts of good things can happen. The alternative is to spend a life wondering what might have been. It really is essential to gain the self confidence necessary to "do."