Ways to distinguish yourself #159 – Know when you are lucky!

posted in Distinguish, General on by

Luck has always been a controversial topic. There are people who believe in them and there are people who think that there is nothing like “luck” out there. Then there are people who are in the middle.

My personal stand on luck: I think there is luck but you should not depend on it. You should do whatever it takes. In the process, if you get “lucky” sometimes, it’s a bonus!

People who don’t believe in luck, subscribe to statements like:

1. “Luck is the meeting point of the opportunities that are passing by and your awareness in seeing them”

2. “The harder you work, the luckier you get”

I don’t have a problem with that. I think sometimes you do get “lucky” and those events should be attributed to luck and nothing else. By not believing in luck, you might try to explain what you did to cause this event to happen and take the credit. While that may make you feel good about yourself, that approach has many problems. Here are a few of them:

1. You are taking credit for something that you should not.

2. Trying to recreate those circumstances again may not be possible. So you may get surprised next time.

3. Other powerful people can see what “really” happened – so no point in making up

4. Extend this further and you may live in a fantasy world.

5. This might introduce some “over confidence” in your abilities

In summary, it is important for you to know when you are lucky. Personally, I have been lucky many times in the past and I hope that I will get lucky many more times in the future. When I do get lucky, I just thank GOD and I have no problems with it. Luck is a gift and we should be thankful and accept it with grace when you do get it.

Have fun!

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Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself

Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)

Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)