What is Luck?

There might be many definitions as to what luck is, but let's just consider one of them in this article. I was recently inspired at a seminar I attended where we talked on this, and it was a revelation for me.

When I reflect back on all the moments I could consider as I being “lucky” it really came down to this.?I was not only found at the right place at the right time but I was also prepared for whatever was coming to me. Now this preparation might have been deliberate or not but regardless,?it was clear that I was prepared since I was able to receive the luck. We very often look at luck as being those random events which just happen by fate but that's not always the case, sometimes they are planned and other times they are not, but there are some factors which characterize that luck and two of them are?“opportunity” and “preparation”.

Imagine I decide to give out $100 to a random person and the only criteria I had was, it was going to be the first person I met smiling. Going outside, I’m carrying with me an opportunity, now how many people out there are prepared for this? Very few people I guess, hopefully there will be at least some people prepared and the first person I meet will be considered “the lucky one” but that luck just came down to?the availability of the opportunity and the unconscious preparation of that person. He didn’t know about the opportunity, he didn’t even know what being prepared meant here and yet, he was.

My lucky but unlucky friend

There was this job opportunity which opened up, and I was quick to inform a close friend about it, he had all the skills and all the talent needed for it, and it really just came out of the blue. It was just because a person had resigned recently that this opportunity opened up, and I was quick to call my friend to inform him about it so that he could apply early, literally the first person to apply was certain of being recruited in a matter of days.?Till today, I’m stunned to what my friend said that day,?he told me he didn’t believe he was going to be selected, that it will just probably end like all his other applications so far. Needless to say I spent hours trying to convince him just to apply, but his mind was already made up, just because he had bad experiences, he didn’t want to try again anymore. The takeaway here was that, the opportunity was there, but the preparation wasn’t, so he missed on his luck.

Random and non-Random luck

There are those opportunities which are quite random and there isn’t a possible way of anticipating the preparation that is required, but there are also those fits of luck which can be anticipated and require some form of preparation which you can go through. I think in society we are accustomed to thinking that luck is random and totally unplanned but that's not always the case, its quite possible for you to trigger luck, that's called?taking advantage of opportunities.

Right now there are opportunities all around you, the only problem is that you aren’t prepared to receive them, you might just be expecting some random money to fall into your hands before you recognize that as it being luck.

Even in this regard, there are also a lot of charities and persons out there ready to give you all that free money if you would just ask nicely. Right now I could show you countless ways of making millions of dollars (hypothetically) but you won’t be prepared to receive it, maybe because you are stuck in your 9–5 or you might just be too lazy to wake up from your bed.?The only thing lacking for you to call it luck is your own preparation, because the opportunities are already out there.

Preparation

I can’t define a standard for you to follow to be prepared to receive that luck which might fall on you suddenly, the only way I know of being able to receive these luck is by?having an open mind and trying out everything.?That's why whenever a person comes with an opportunity to me, I don’t turn it down or even disregard it, sometimes I even engage into countless different ventures just to ensure I can grab some piece of luck. You never know for which opportunity you might be the most prepared for, the ones you neglect often turn out to be the most profitable.

There are also deliberate opportunities you can turn into luck, businesses, job offers, goods & services and so much more, these are all things which require a certain degree of preparation. I take for example the?habit of applying for jobs aggressively, you can literally deposit your CV in any and every company which is willing to accept it, I’m sure currently there are more than 500+ companies in your current city. Even if it won’t amount to much, why not do it? Printing 100 copies of your CV should cost less than $50, but that could open you to $100k job, but we are held back by our ego and our preconceived ideas of what luck is, but that's just it right there.

By depositing your CV into all those companies you are fulfilling your side of the bargain (preparation), now its a question of the opportunity finding your preparedness.

Retroactive thinking

We always think retroactively, like the opportunity should find us before we are going to prepare ourselves, or before we are going to be ready for it, but you can also go the other way round.?So ask yourself the question, are you prepared for the opportunity? And for which opportunity are you preparing yourself??There are countless opportunities out there everybody can take advantage of, not just the random lucky ones, so?work towards becoming ready for those. Unless you sincerely believe there aren’t any opportunities where you are found, then that will be a totally different question, but I personally want to believe there are opportunities everywhere,?how hard we need to prepare or be prepared for these are what makes the difference. For some people it might be easier, having rich parents certainly puts way more opportunities in front of you but living in the hood, even the little opportunities are hard to get.

Conclusion

You can choose to spend your life waiting for those random feats of luck which might never come, or you could choose to go out there and provoke your own luck. Hopefully through this article you have a better insight into what luck is all about, it's not enough for it to be a random opportunity which falls on you,?there is also the prerequisite for you to be prepared to receive it, else it will just pass you by.?You are already lucky in more ways than one, you are just focused on the monetary value of luck.

Thanks for reading ??

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