“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
Are you waiting for your lucky break in life? Are you hoping that your numbers are going to come up in the lottery and then you can live the life of your dreams? Are you planning on auditioning for the X-Factor so that you can become an instant star and have a No.1 single by Christmas?
If you are, you need to pay attention to the wise words of Seneca – luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. People who succeed in life do so because they prepare to succeed. Nothing in life happens by chance, and this is the meaning behind some other words of wisdom, you reap what you sow. Okay, you could argue that winning the lottery would be a chance happening, but to win, you would need to have planned to win by going out and buying a ticket. As the catchphrase goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it, but let’s face it, buying one lottery ticket (or even 100) is unlikely to make you a winner, right?
You reap what you sow is another way of saying you only get out of life what you’re prepared to put in. We’ve all heard tales of people getting “lucky breaks” and becoming an “overnight success”, but the reality is that there’s no such thing as a lucky break and no one ever becomes a success overnight. It can appear that way – how about the story of the street busker who gets spotted by a famous record producer and given a record deal? Sounds like a lucky break, but was it really down to luck that he landed that deal? No. He was out there playing his music with the intention of being heard, and he’d been preparing for his success by practising his musical skills day in and day out. Had he not been sowing the seeds by honing his skills and getting out there to be heard, he wouldn’t have been in a position to reap his reward when the opportunity came.
If you want more out of life, you need to put more in.
If you’re not happy with your lot in life, what more are you prepared to do to get the life you want? Think about it for a moment: if doing what you’re doing isn’t bringing you the results you want, doing more of what you’re doing can only bring you more of what you already have.
What seeds are you sowing to reap the rewards you want?
Don MacNaughton is a High-Performance Coach and has worked tirelessly to help clients achieve success in the world of sport and business over the past 15 years. The next, highly popular, NLP Diploma and Life Coaching Certificate course starts in April 2019. Click here for more information or to sign up.