#Middlebury #WinningWays
Insights for Constructive Living
by PAT IANNUZZI
Luck is often cited as a key factor in determining a person’s success. Being “lucky” suggests circumstances have played an important role in one’s achievements, perhaps even overshadowing the significance of their own personal contributions.
It’s interesting to reflect on the different attitudes people have toward luck. Some believe that luck, whether good or bad, has simply to do with random chance happenings that occur throughout our lives. They see luck as resulting from being in the right place at the right time. Others feel that luck is predetermined by mystical forces such as fate and karma. Still others feel there’s really no such thing as luck; rather, good fortune is simply a byproduct of hard work and determination.
Certainly things happen that appear to come clearly out of the blue. We all experience misfortunes as well as happy surprises that we had no role or responsibility in creating. Finding a $100 bill on a sidewalk or having your car dented accidentally in a mall parking lot are events that are random and difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate.
Max Gunther in his book, “The Luck Factor,” defines luck as “events that influence our lives that appear to be beyond our control.” At first glance, it might look as if there is truth to this idea. After all, some people’s lives overflow with abundance, vitality, success, and loving relationships seemingly without obvious intentional effort. Luck, whether mystical or accidental, however, can be more than just a chance event.
A dictionary definition of luck is “a force that brings good fortune or adversity.” So, if luck is a force, why shouldn’t we be able to tap into it? For centuries, people have tried to do just that. Those who believe in the luck force have tried various ways to harness it by appealing to the luck power of various objects and rituals. The practice of knocking on wood, for example, is thought to date back to pagan rituals aimed at eliciting help from powerful tree gods. Many people routinely carry “lucky charms” or carry out rituals to try to increase their luck
While the words “luck” and “chance” are closely related, it’s important to recognize they are not the same thing. A chance event is an unexpected, random occurrence while luck has to do with the impact of such an occurrence. Chance events in themselves do not generate luck, but rather provide the opportunity for luck, good or bad, to happen. Luck, then, is the effect of chance on our lives. How such events affect us is largely determined by our own attitudes and behaviors. The good news is that we can improve our luck by making ourselves more ready for the opportunities that chance offers to us.
The Roman senator and philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” While being in the right place at the right time can be an important contributor to luck, most people find themselves in such a position because of design rather than by accident. They get what appears to be the big break, but in reality they worked hard planning and preparing to get to where the big breaks come. When we are prepared, things just seem to go our way. When we are not, they rarely do.
Someone who by chance encounters a career opportunity for which he or she is well qualified is truly lucky, but another person who is not qualified and is faced with the same opportunity is anything but lucky. That person might even be described as being unlucky, but he or she is not unlucky because something bad happened, but rather because something potentially good happened that the person was not prepared for.
A major key for having more good luck is to develop the skills, self-awareness and attitudes that prepare us to recognize and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. We may have little or no control over the elements of chance, but we can have a great deal of control over how we deal with them, and how we deal with them is what actually determines our luck.
Pat Iannuzzi of Symbiont Performance Group, Inc. is a performance consultant, trainer and coach focusing on selling, presentation and interpersonal skills. He lives in Litchfield and can be reached at 860-283-9963 or piannuzzi@symbiontnet.com.
