YAAB

By Buhle Dlamini

One of the exciting books I have read in recent years is “Lucky or Smart” by Bo Peabody, a successful entrepreneur who made a lot of money by starting several businesses that he sold and made him rich. In the book he looks at why he became so successful, was it luck or was it his ingenuity? He admits it was a bit of both but mostly luck which he created as he went along.

We often hear people saying that to succeed we need to be creating our own luck. Sounds great, but does one actually go about doing that. And hey isn’t luck all about chance anyway? Well if that is so, how can some people be repeatedly lucky in different areas of their lives while others hit the dead end? There must be something that these lucky people keep doing that makes them lucky more often than not. Wouldn’t you want to be one of them instead of just observing from the distance?

If you are serious about creating your own luck as you go along then you need to consider the art of creating your own luck. Let’s take a look at what lucky people do consistently to set themselves apart from the herd:

• Take The Plunge- Seize Opportunities

Lucky people take the plunge while others dither and tap dance on the edge of opportunity. Every single day we are presented with opportunities to do things that could easily lead to other bigger, better things. But, because many of us undermine or completely neglect these opportunities of chance, we rarely ever see where the rabbit hole leads. We continue on with our merry little lives avoiding anything out of the ordinary instead of looking for a chance to do something or go somewhere different. If you ask the so-called lucky people what brought about their lucky break you’ll often hear them say things like: “I just happened to be talking to this stranger who turned out to be so-and-so and the rest is history”. Opportunities are created out of chance meetings, chance conversations that turn out to be vital in roads to something bigger.

People who create their own luck often take a plunge in starting businesses that seem like a big risk. They attend functions where they might meet people who hold a key to their luck. They often talk to strangers or risk humiliating themselves, which they often do, but the newspapers only capture the moment of their luck/breakthrough.

You can choose to be one of the lucky people by deciding to take the plunge more often in your life. Not all the plunges you take will lead to great opportunities but the more often you do it the more likely you’ll hit the mark. Decide to take more opportunities that come your way to do something different, something a little risky and see what happens to your luck factor.

The best definition of luck is “luck occurs when preparedness meets opportunity”

• Play Your Strong Cards. (more…)