Luck can be used in two ways.
The first way luck can be used is as an excuse for when something bad happens to us. We often say, “oh it was just bad luck” when something doesn’t go our way. We lose money on an investment, our big event gets rained out, we’re late for an important meeting because we got stuck in traffic, we get a flat tire on a long road trip.
While people like to use ‘bad luck’ as an explanation for these events, each one was really just the effect of a series of causes—usually a series of personal choices made by us. Things don’t just ‘happen’—everything that happens has a cause and effect.
The second way luck can be used is as an excuse for when something good happens to us. We finally get the promotion we were always hoping for, we hit it big on a risky investment, or we find a $100 bill on the sidewalk. While some people might think of these events as good luck, they are really just opportunities being met with preparedness.
Good luck didn’t put that $100 bill in front of you. You made the choice to take a walk outside at that exact time and happened to be looking at the sidewalk as you passed by. You were presented with an opportunity and you were prepared. Consider instead if you would have decided to sit on the couch and finish another Netflix episode, or you were looking at your phone and not the sidewalk.
While I wouldn’t recommend living your life thinking like this (because you might actually go crazy), it’s still important to be conscious of the choices you make every day.
So you might be asking yourself, “why can’t I get golden opportunities like that?”. I hate to break it to you, but you do—and so do I—every day.
Every single day we pass by several opportunities that could lead to great things, but we just aren’t yet prepared for them. Either we aren't prepared to see them or we aren't prepared to take action on them. Think about Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates… as rich, powerful, and influential as they are, they really aren’t much different than you and I.
So what’s the difference? How did they become who they are and I’m just sitting here writing this dumb blog and you’re sitting there reading this dumb blog?
Because these people were prepared to both see when an opportunity presented itself, and they were prepared to take action. What would you say if I told you we can do the same? We can make our own luck. We can do so by being as prepared as possible so that when the right opportunity finally presents itself, we can take conscious action on it.
“Remember, although it may be happening to you, it is happening because of you.” -Grant Cardone
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