When things are going well – you don’t need to search for opportunities; they are all there all the time, all coming your way.
In addition to them all coming your way, you might find that people aren’t as picky as they otherwise might be.
But when things aren’t going well, opportunities are scant, they are hard to find, and those that exist are absurdly finicky about everything and anything.
The goal then becomes to set yourself up for finding opportunities when times are tough, when things are actually going well – what experience do I need, what value do I add, do I need to take some courses, if I can’t find work, how do I build it and create something to show what I can do.
Always set yourself for the next opportunity when times are good, so when they get bad you have the work to show you can weather the bad.