Wishing I was Lucky
Wishing I was Lucky
Give me a break, I can remember having this discussion with my Father-in-law many years ago. He believed that you “made your own luck”. It took me a while to understand what he was saying but I must say, it is a lot closer to the truth than believing that luck rests outside your control and is dependent on some external force either liking or disliking you.
Many business leaders say that they were lucky. But they don’t say that they sat around waiting for luck to come along and give them opportunities. It wasn’t an external force deciding they were suitable candidates for lucky opportunities. Successful people have recognized opportunities and risen to the challenge, taken action and been prepared to pay the consequences.
My wife can never believe that I always find money. I walk down the street and see money and pick it up, - but that is not luck. I open my mind to notice the money. I then always pick it up because I want to maintain the open mind and encourage it. I want my subconscious mind to believe that it is important to notice money. That is why I will pick up any money I see regardless of the amount.
A robber robs a bank and runs out to the car to find a flat tire. Is that bad luck? No, if a tire is not cared for it will go flat. If the car is driven over a nail or hits a curb, the tire will deflate. There is no luck involved. That is physics and will happen to any car tire. If the driver doesn’t care for the car, then what happens is not luck.
So what is it that people who seem “lucky” do? Well, they open their minds to opportunities and are constantly seeking them. They notice potential and then act on it. They seek the chances and respond to them in a proactive manner. Finally, they plan, thinking through how they will implement it and then act on it.
What about the negatives that happen? They simply notice them, learn from them and then move on. Problems happen but they don’t dwell on them.
The “unlucky” person sees the things that go wrong and don’t even notice the things going well. They are focused on what is ‘unlucky’ and never see the things that went well. They don’t notice that they went to work without having a puncture, or haven’t been ill all winter, or that they got paid on time. But they do notice that they bought one jar of jam that they dropped or one single button that came off their clothes!
Luck is not something that happens to you, it is something that occurs when you are tuned into opportunities. It has been said that luck occurs when opportunity meets persistence. There is also the famous quote: “Luck is a wonderful thing. The harder a person works, the more of it they seem to have”
Lucky I found that quote!!!!
Paul Bridle
Leadership Methodologist
March 2008
Wishing I was Lucky - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Bridle's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Didn’t Wet Wet Wet sing this? It seems that people are all too quick to assume that ‘luck’ is a mysterious force that flies around and chooses where to vest its positive charms and where to thrust its negative forces. Then again, there are people that seem to have been born with this mysterious force constantly on their shoulder practicing positive spells while others that never come across the positive aspects at all!!!!!
Give me a break, I can remember having this discussion with my Father-in-law many years ago. He believed that you “made your own luck”. It took me a while to understand what he was saying but I must say, it is a lot closer to the truth than believing that luck rests outside your control and is dependent on some external force either liking or disliking you.
Many business leaders say that they were lucky. But they don’t say that they sat around waiting for luck to come along and give them opportunities. It wasn’t an external force deciding they were suitable candidates for lucky opportunities. Successful people have recognized opportunities and risen to the challenge, taken action and been prepared to pay the consequences.
My wife can never believe that I always find money. I walk down the street and see money and pick it up, - but that is not luck. I open my mind to notice the money. I then always pick it up because I want to maintain the open mind and encourage it. I want my subconscious mind to believe that it is important to notice money. That is why I will pick up any money I see regardless of the amount.
A robber robs a bank and runs out to the car to find a flat tire. Is that bad luck? No, if a tire is not cared for it will go flat. If the car is driven over a nail or hits a curb, the tire will deflate. There is no luck involved. That is physics and will happen to any car tire. If the driver doesn’t care for the car, then what happens is not luck.
So what is it that people who seem “lucky” do? Well, they open their minds to opportunities and are constantly seeking them. They notice potential and then act on it. They seek the chances and respond to them in a proactive manner. Finally, they plan, thinking through how they will implement it and then act on it.
What about the negatives that happen? They simply notice them, learn from them and then move on. Problems happen but they don’t dwell on them.
The “unlucky” person sees the things that go wrong and don’t even notice the things going well. They are focused on what is ‘unlucky’ and never see the things that went well. They don’t notice that they went to work without having a puncture, or haven’t been ill all winter, or that they got paid on time. But they do notice that they bought one jar of jam that they dropped or one single button that came off their clothes!
Luck is not something that happens to you, it is something that occurs when you are tuned into opportunities. It has been said that luck occurs when opportunity meets persistence. There is also the famous quote: “Luck is a wonderful thing. The harder a person works, the more of it they seem to have”
Lucky I found that quote!!!!
Paul Bridle
Leadership Methodologist
March 2008
Wishing I was Lucky - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Bridle's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
| No article feedback found. | |||
| Leave Your Feedback | |||
|
|||
|
| |||
| Some say that it takes luck to be a truly successful salesperson. I'm not so sure. Read on and you be the judge. |
|||
|
| |||
Truly successful people in life are givers and forgivers. |
|||
|
| |||
| Life lessons I have learned as I have journeyed through life. Why not take the time to learn from my experience and then take the time to think about yours. |
|||
|
| |||
It was my birthday on Saturday. |
|||
|
| |||
I had an interesting experience tonight playing Texas Hold'em Poker. Despite having virtually no poker experience, I ended up winning a decent-sized pot. The morals of the story: |
|||
| |||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
![]() | |
![]() Paul Bridle (Visit Paul's Website) Paul is a Leadership Methodologist. For almost two decades he has studied effective organizations and the people that lead them. As a result of his research around the world, he is called upon to assist both private as well as public organizations by acting as an advisor or consultant on a range of projects relating to management and leadership issues or development. Paul is a Faculty Member of the Institute of Management Studies, Fellow of the Institute of Business Consulting, Fellow of the Professional Speaker Association and a Certified Speaking Professional. Paul was also voted 12th in The Top 30 Most Influential Leadership Gurus in the World in 2007 & 2008 for his contribution to Leadership development. International Business Speaker, Author, Facilitator, Advisor and Consultant
| |
![]() |
|
|
![]() |
|
|
|
![]() |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
![]() |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
![]() | ||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
![]() |
|
|
![]() | ||
|
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | ||
|
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2007
Top SEO Posts of the Year | ||
![]() | ||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|



Truly successful people in life are givers and forgivers.
It was my birthday on Saturday.
I had an interesting experience tonight playing Texas Hold'em Poker. Despite having virtually no poker experience, I ended up winning a decent-sized pot. The morals of the story:












