Planning on "getting lucky" on Friday the 13th? Better consider the following...
Popular music is littered with songs and song lyrics about luck and the art of getting lucky:
- “Even the losers get lucky sometimes.”
- “Only the lucky ones.”
- “You just got lucky.”
- “With a little luck.”
- “You got lucky babe.”
Luck is never more talked about than on Friday the 13th. But there's more to it than meets the eye.
According to Wikipedia, Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of good or bad luck. Of course, most associate Friday the 13th with bad luck. So let’s take a look at this “luck” thing a little closer.
Definition according to Webster: Luck is a belief in good or bad fortune in life caused by accident or chance which happens beyond a person's control.
But the "luck" stops here.
Definition according to Leu: Luck is simply the intersection of opportunity and preparedness. And the outcome, or "luck," can be good or bad depending on:
Opportunities – Those people, places, or circumstances that we consciously and deliberately put ourselves in contact with that help or hinder us.
Preparedness - Being ready socially, emotionally, and/or educationally to capitalize on created opportunities. Being prepared requires saying the right things, at the right times, to the right people, to achieve the desired outcome.
For the most part, we all choose our circumstances, and our situations. Therefore, we choose our good luck and our bad luck. The choices that we usually make and keep making… determine how "lucky" we are in life. It matters little if it's Friday the 13th or Monday the 3rd.
Luck is simply being prepared to take advantage of opportunities that you can influence and create.
Sure, I believe that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and vice-versa. But I’m arguing that this is the exception, not the rule. We need to focus on the majority of things we can influence, not the stuff we can’t. Luck relies less on happenstance and more on purposeful circumstance. Luck is more about marketing rather than mythology. Luck is primarily determined then by our choices which influence our destiny.
So how much does "luck" play into your life's success or failure? Are you positioning yourself to get lucky every day? Do you know where your opportunities really exist? Are you prepared to take advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves? Are you putting yourself in "lucks way" by truly understanding this intersection of opportunity and preparedness? If you do, maybe they'll write a song about you one day...
“Some guys have all the luck.”
Follow Tom on Twitter: twitter.com/tomleu
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