The Truth About Luck: How Preparation and Opportunity Lead to Success

Throughout my corporate career, spanning nearly a decade, I grappled with the concept of luck.

I felt that being under the sway of blind chance diminished my efforts, sacrifices, and the years of work, learning, and persistent pursuit that had consistently led me to success.

I’ll never forget the day in 2012, sitting in our corporate break room with a colleague who envied my most recent promotion. We were having an unusually friendly conversation when it happened.

She started talking about my new role and summed it all up with three words: “You’re so lucky!”

While those words were said with a smile, they were hardly meant as a compliment. And I felt the sting of that slap deep in my soul.

But I wasn’t one to show that her words had offended me. So, I calmly smiled back and flippantly replied, “I guess I am!”

She could never have known how much her words stung and lingered.

Luck Isn’t Blind—It’s Crafted

You see, at that stage of my life and career, I pushed against the idea of luck. I resisted and resented being called lucky.

I wanted more credit than that.

I wanted people to KNOW that my success wasn’t random. I wanted them to see how hard I had worked for it—how much I had sacrificed for it.

I wore my effort like a badge of honor, and the concept of luck seemed to diminish it.

But luck was not the problem.

I was.

Luck is a funny thing because there are many forms of it, but even the most random form of what appears to be the most haphazard luck still isn’t as random or haphazard as it seems.

If you don’t play, you don’t win. It’s that simple.

Luck isn’t truly lucky.

And it certainly isn’t blind.

The ancient Greeks tell us that luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and I always add, “if and only if you act.” You see, luck isn’t just about getting the opportunity; it’s about putting yourself in a position to get it. It’s about being ready to take it when it comes and, most importantly, taking it!

Thomas Edison says, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

A lucky break is rarely a parting of the heavens moment. It’s that one project you end up on because you were the only person who raised your hand for it. It’s the thankless job that nobody else wanted to do. It’s the random act of kindness that cuts into your weekend me-time.

Luck is crafted. It is developed. It is made in the diligent, and sometimes sacrificial, decisions of our daily lives.

In order to be in a position to be lucky, you have to put yourself in the game. You have to practice the skills you need. You have to know that you can win and work toward that outcome—even when the evidence hasn’t quite caught up to your belief.

How to Put Yourself in a Position to Be Lucky

So, this month, I want you to think about luck. More than that, I want you to practice putting yourself in the position to get lucky.

And I hope that, like me, you can now enjoy it when someone calls you lucky.

Because you are—very intentionally—lucky.