Chaos theory is amazing to think about. The premise is that any single event is caused by thousands of other completely independent events that occurred prior to that event. If any previous event had occurred differently, it could have prevented it from happening. This leads you to realize how much “luck” is involved in our daily lives.
When I think about this, I realize how little control businesses have over major events that affect their success and how much it has to do with luck. You can’t control what your rivals do and how that affects your industry. You can’t control the markets and overall economy. It’s kind of scary to think about not having control and needing a little bit of luck. Just look at sports. Any championship team had luck along the way. Whether it was an opponent getting injured, getting a lucky interception that was tipped by a wide receiver, their success was dependent on these events.
Here’s the thing with luck, though. Even though you can’t take a class on how to create luck, you do have to be prepared to capitalize on a lucky situation. As Edna from The Incredibles said: “Luck favors the prepared.” The cornberback that made the interception to win the Super Bowl? He had couldn’t do much to make that receiver tip the ball in the air, but he did have to be ready to reel in the ball when it spiraled through the air towards him.
The same goes for businesses. You can’t necessarily create your own luck most of the time, but you can either put yourself in favorable situations which will set you up for success and put in the work beforehand so that you can capitalize on luck when it arrives. You can’t sit around and twittle your thumbs until luck comes knocking on your door. You have to be able recognize a good business opportunity when it shows up on your doorstep and be ready to take action.
What it comes down to is this. here are thousands of events out there that you can’t influence, but you can’t sit around waiting for your big break. You have to put yourself in a favorable situation where you’re able to recognize and seize these fortunate opportunities.
Image from AmpamukA (Busy in ICU for 1 month)
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think there’s any doubt this is true. All my life the guys that spent more time hitting the cage seemed to get the lucky bounces. It’s no coincidence. I know a number of people have said this, but attribute it to one of my favorite Stoic philosophers, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
My grandfather always used to say he’d rather have a barrel of luck, than a bucket of skill. Write that down.
R
Do you think you maybe notice the “lucky” moves more when people are prepared and perceptive and thus able to take advantage of them?
Ever heard the saying: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Well heck, I don’t know if it’s a saying or whatever…but I like it and I certainly feel that way. I work hard to create opportunities and most often times, it seems like things fall right into place. Call it luck, call it preparation, whatever it is, it’s great.
Nice nugget of wisdom there, Ryan…note taken!
Yes I definitely think that people who have put in the work beforehand are much better prepared to both recognize these lucky moves and make the most of them (this second part is the big differentiator I think). If a company has been doing nothing but chilling for 6 months, you can’t expect them to go all out when a new opportunity comes around. Thanks for commenting!
I wonder if we, as the outside observer, would notice all these “lucky moves” if people didn’t take advantage of them. Sure there’s the obvious tipped football or something like that, but how many things might pass right by us because NO ONE makes the most of them.
I’m with you man, I definitely think that if you put in the work beforehand, you’re going to catch some breaks in the future. Hey Ricardo thanks for stopping by and commenting! Unfortunately, I think many people don’t realize this and are sitting around waiting for luck to sneak up on them. Well, they’ll probably be waiting for quite a while…
Re: “Well, they’ll probably be waiting for quite a while…”
Wait too long and all of life will have passed by :-/