What Would Your Life Look Like?
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “What Would Your Life Look Like?” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. In this week's article, Paul encourages you to pursue your destiny utilizing “controllable luck” as he describes here.
What would your life look like if you were lucky? Most people would start out with being lucky representing winning the lottery. Not just any lottery amount though. Their vision would be one that had them winning anything north of 100 million dollars. This leads to visions of having several different mansions in places around the world where they can live a carefree life free from the burdens of other people’s problems now that their own are solved for the rest of their life (data suggests it never, ever works out like that for people that win large amounts in the lottery). Here’s the challenge with that perception of luck…whatever it is that you acquired wasn’t earned.
It seems like there may be different types of luck. The lottery winner might be viewed as having “dumb luck” due to the fact they really had nothing they contributed to in the winning of money. Gambling may be thought of the same way. Most people are aware of the seemingly insurmountable odds of getting lucky when buying a lottery ticket or gambling on an app or at a casino, yet they convince themselves that they can be that one in a billion person that walks away with all that money. Another type of luck could be associated with a person who walks away from a horrific accident with nary a scratch. Certainly, any person diagnosed with cancer would see all others that don’t have cancer as lucky. But today, I’d like to focus on a form of perceived luck that I believe is the only one we have control over.
For years I’ve been a fan of a podcast entitled “How I Built This” by Guy Raz. Each podcast is an interview with an individual who built a successful company from an idea, many times with little or no money to get started with. Near the end of each interview, Guy will ask the person he’s interviewing “what percent of their success came from hard work and what percent came from luck?” and this is where I listen very closely. Why? Because the answers that emerge help define the beliefs of the people being interviewed as they offer their perspective on hard work and luck. Nearly all the respondents express the luck percentage with either great humility or great spirituality. It’s kind of like they feel that their success has been a privilege rather than an entitlement that they themselves earned. While they often acknowledge the sacrifices they made, combined with long hours and an insatiable commitment to succeed, most were able to maintain balance in their life and enjoy the support and love of the people within their inner circle of family and friends. Let’s dig deeper into this type of perceived luck.
Here are some quotes that relate to the type of luck we have control over: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” “Luck is hard work – and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.” “Luck is defined by the good things that come to those who hustle.” “Luck is what we make it, not what is thrust upon us. When you show initiative, your success has nothing to do with luck.” “Success is due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly, it’s dependent on a person to keep trying after they have failed.” “The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.” “The only good luck people ever have is being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.” “Luck is extremely predictable. If you want more luck, then take more chances and create your own path of luck on a foundation of preparation and hard work.” “Others will see your success as luck. YOU will have a different definition.”
Inspired? I hope so. It’s quotes like the ones above that keep me fully fueled on my quest to get the book I wrote, The Answer Discovery, on the best seller lists. When I do, I’m prepared for the multitude of people that will consider me lucky having nothing else but a list to judge me by. They’ll be unaware of the extreme effort, and creative strategies, it’s taking me to make that dream a reality. Knowledgeable people that I asked for advice at the beginning of my author journey accurately described the mountain I would need to ascend to get on the best seller lists. They knew that 99.9% of the others they’ve advised were looking for a path lined with luck who would give up their quest once they realized that waiting for luck to shower over them was never going to happen. My perspective of controllable luck, as described above, is what will allow me to reach the top and be part of that .1% that will never give up until they reach the top of the mountain. Will I see you there? I sure hope so. Why? Because, Hey…I Believe In YOU! Now get out there and pursue your destiny utilizing “controllable luck” as I’ve described it above. GiddyUp, you awesome and unstoppable person!
Paul White is a guest columnist and author. Purchase his life-changing book “The Answer Discovery – How to Change the World by Helping Others…and Ourselves” at http://bit.ly/PaulWhiteAmazon. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.