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Learning: Library Article

The Myth of Luck
by Katherine Winters

Most of us were taught to believe in the myth of luck. We believe that certain people have achieved certain successes or experienced "good fortune" at least partially because of luck. Of course, we acknowledge that hard work and perseverance were involved to some extent, but we believe that "luck" is the critical factor in most people's successes.

How many times have you heard someone say something to the effect of, "If you want to accomplish X, you'll need more than hard work and credentials. You'll also need to a lot of luck. It's a hard business to break into (or succeed in, or rise to the top of, etc.)."

We nod our heads, subconsciously slipping into the trap of allowing ourselves the excuse of lack of luck whenever we fail to achieve something that we want . . . but which we secretly believed was out of our range anyway.

Here's the lesson: luck is self-created.

"Lucky" people put themselves in the right place at the right time, they contact the people that they need to meet to get ahead or stay connected, they work hard and consistently to make sure that when an opportunity arises, their name and reputation are known -- and they are ready to meet the challenge.

Practice creating luck on a daily basis. Your opportunity may be just around the corner -- but you have to be prepared for it. Think of all the ways that you can create luck in your own life.

Perhaps that means sending out resumes on a daily basis; perhaps it means calling five more contacts per day, being friendly to everyone that you meet, writing that business article, or sending out that press release. Perhaps it means stretching your comfort zone just a little bit more every day.

The creation of luck entails different things for different people. Figure out what it entails for you, and practice the creation of luck every day.

Expect to be lucky, prepare to be lucky, and you will create your own luck.


*This article was originally published in The Inspiration Ezine. To subscribe, inspriation-on@mail-list.com.

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