I believe in making my own luck

I believe in making my own luck
12 December 2012

I once read a famous quote by Gary Player – probably one of our most prolific and influential golfing legends ever.  A true gentlemen of a man, who believed in hard work and lots of it.  Golf is perceived by many as a game of luck and fortune.  I mean what are the odds of hitting a hole in one?  Of teeing off on a green and exactly hitting your mark hundreds of metres away – at an angle no less.  I know absolutely nothing about golf and have never taken a swing.  Yet I imagine that to up your chances of getting it right, you’d have to select the right golf club (apparently it’s not called a stick).  It’s all irons and woods with funny numbers, and apparently they mean something.  These numbers are not just random.  Personally those stick thingies pretty much look all the same to me.  But to get it just right, you’d have to aim it just so, calculating things like wind, angle, swing, blah-blah-blah.  Lots of variables.  Yet Gary’s philosophy and quote was this:  “The funny thing about luck, is the more I practice, the luckier I get”.  I absolutely love it!  What a fabulous outlook and take on the whole concept.

Personally I fully subscribe to his vision and I truly believe in making my own luck.  Oh, there is the odd stroke of good luck, but in general luck is hard earned.  Practice makes perfect and all that.  The more you put in, the more you get out.  How true is this?  The output you receive is directly related to the input and effort you give.

So, how does one make your own luck?

·         You work hard

·         You pay attention

·         You do your homework

·         You think carefully before you make decisions

·         You put the extra effort it

·         You go the extra mile

·         You do that little bit more

·         You put good, positive energy out there – it always comes back to you

·         You pay it forward

·         You keep your ears open

·         You try and be at the right place at the right time

But don’t just take it from me.  I’m hardly the world’s biggest expert on luck.  It’s not like I’ve been “lucky” all that many times.

Well there was that time that I was “lucky” enough to win a weight-loss competition.  I know it sounds bizarre.  Funny enough, I hadn’t even entered the competition.  But the truth of the matter is that I was a bit of a porker after I had Cole.  In fact there was no “bit” about it.  I was a big porker.  I felt that the only solution was to do Weigh-Less as I believed in it and knew with certainty that it worked.  My Mom had gone down the Weigh-Less road many years ago and it certainly had done the trick for her.  And would you know it, when I did it, it worked for me too.  I lost a total of 13,8kg and it didn’t take me too long either.  My Weigh-Less tannie entered me into the competition, unbeknownst to me, and I was so chuffed that I was lucky enough to win the Weigh-Less Boland Slimmer of the year competition.  It sounds very dorky I know, but I took such pride in it.  My family told me that I was their favourite loser.  And I wore my loser badge with pride.  So how lucky was I to win that competition?  Not lucky at all.  I worked damn hard.  And for the most part I’ve been “lucky” enough to keep the weight off.  I worked hard at that too.

I’ve been “lucky” enough to make a few good decisions with my business, Jump 4 Joy.  Funny enough, that the homework and legwork I did in advance certainly helped to increase my luck.  I got “lucky” with my piano playing when I was still at school and got a few excellent results at Eisteddfods and the like.  Amazingly, the more I practiced the piano, the luckier I got.  The same went for school exams.  The more I studied, the "luckier" I got with easy exam papers.  Funny thing that too.

My kids have been “lucky” a few times at school, winning recycling competitions.  But then again, we consciously recycle and schlepp all of our recyclables to school every Monday morning.  As far as primary school goes, my kids have been “lucky” to have awesome teachers every single year.  Really, really special educators and people who teach with passion.  But perhaps that “luck” is also related to the kids having a positive attitude and me reinforcing to them exactly how “lucky” they are.  It’s all about attitude and seeing the silver lining I suppose.

So as far as I luck goes, I’ve been lucky in many ways for sure.  And for the most part, I’ve had a hand in creating that luck.  In working for it and believing in its existence and having faith that it will come my way.

I am making my own luck.  Currently I’m working really hard at my blog, and have been since I’ve started it.  I put the effort in to deliver stories with heart and good content.  It takes time and effort, yet I believe that it will bear fruit.  And I’ll get lucky some more.