What role does luck play in your life?
My family and I just returned from a vacation in Ireland. It is a beautiful country. We enjoyed exploring castles, cliffs, and culture. We also saw plenty of shamrocks and leprechauns. Not REAL leprechauns, of course (a small disappointment of mine). Instead, as you might expect, every souvenir and gift shop in the country was filled to the gills with tokens of luck.
It got me wondering… How do you feel about luck? Are you WAITING for luck or are you MAKING luck?
Luck in our lives
Do you feel lucky? Have you felt that you were a lucky person? Do unexpected opportunities or events have a way of showing up in your life from time to time?
Some people seem to have this all figured out, right? They have the world on a string. Luck seems to shine upon them at every turn.
They seem to effortlessly excel in their careers. They snag the best customers, beat their deadlines, and earn unplanned rewards. More than likely, those same folks are lucky in love. They are dating or married to the perfect guy or gal.
Luck seems to follow them around.
Is that you?
Unfortunate luck
Or do you feel you can’t ever catch a break? Unplanned events tend to make things harder, not easier. Contrary to those that have all the luck, some people are not so lucky at all.
The unlucky struggle to move ahead because their customers are the most stubborn. Things go wrong, so every task seems a chore. Deadlines move up, their tools break, and their computer freezes.
At home, their marriage has more bumps than most. Struggles to cover the unplanned expenses abound.
Luck is not on their side.
Ray Charles sang it best by singing, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!”
Hoping for luck
State lotteries are at an all-time high in popularity. Time after time, we hear of “record jackpots” in the Powerball or Mega Millions. All the while, people are aware that the chances of winning the lottery are an astronomical 1 in 292 Million. Yet that does little to deter those that hope for luck to change their lives.
Additionally, each day scores of people travel to the nearest casino to play games of chance. Gas stations and bars everywhere are adding video poker machines. Folks keep lining up and hoping for luck.
Feeling powerless to make luck themselves, people turn their future happiness over to chance, fate, or luck.
Please don’t misunderstand. How people spend their money is entirely up to them. Those that have built happy lives for themselves should enjoy life in every way possible. If you have disposable income and enjoy the excitement of casinos and slots, go for it!
I’m referring instead to those that are not creating life on their terms. Some sit back and wait for luck to find them. They hope luck appears and changes everything they perceive is holding them back.
It does not have to be this way. You do not need to sit back and hope that luck comes to you.
You can make changes to your mindset and your circumstances to dramatically increase your odds of good fortune. In other words, you can make luck happen!
Steps to take control of luck
Everything you need to change your life is within you right now. You don’t need a coin, a stat sheet, or a ticket. You were born with all the tools you need.
While you can’t control everything that goes on in your life, you can stack the deck in your favor. Here are a few ways that you can take control and start to make your own luck:
Self-confidence breeds luck
Believing in yourself changes everything. Confidence is the cornerstone to success. <a href=”http://presentyoursuccess.com/public-speaking-confidence/”>Take a look at my post </a>on confidence in public speaking. Use it to take steps to build strong relationships in your career and personal life.
Push yourself into conversations with people you don’t know. Tell your story. You never know who you’re going to meet that can help you turn things in your favor.
Change your perspective on luck
Look at LinkedIn, Twitter, BusinessWeek, Forbes, and more. You’ll see countless articles on very successful people overcoming big setbacks in their careers. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about years of no progress before he got noticed.
Understand that things go wrong. Frequently. Business failures abound. Change your perspective on setbacks from believing it was bad luck to seeing it as an opportunity to learn.
Increase the odds
Do you strike out 3 out of 4 times? Start stepping up to the plate more often. Simply increasing the number of times you try something will increase the number of times you succeed.
Even better, stop doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Take the time to formulate a new approach. Study others. Find a mentor. Change your strikeout percentage into a home run percentage.
Take chances on luck
In addition to increasing the odds, start to push yourself against the edges of your comfort zone. Fear is not our brain telling us to stop. Fear is our brain telling us to be alert. So get out there and discover new ways to thrive.
Don’t take foolish risks, of course. However, start to open your world to opportunities from which you previously retreated.
Stay Positive
No one can promise there will only be sunny days and rainbows in life. Without exception, everyone will be faced with unlucky circumstances. The more you can stay upbeat, the less bad luck appears to stack up.
Find ways to learn from setbacks. Anticipate that not everything will go the way you hoped. <strong>Keep a positive energy</strong> and your mind will keep finding ways to put you in the right place at the right time.
Luck is on your side
Use these methods to change your relationship with luck. Luck may not be entirely within our control, but you can redefine your view of luck. No more do you need to passively hope luck turns in your favor.
It’s time to get out there and make a little luck of your own.
Use the comment section below to share ways in which you’ve changed your luck for the better!
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Climb On!