Post: Do you believe in Luck?

There is a famous saying: “Luck is hard work meets opportunity.”

I remember watching an interview with Will Smith and he answered a question with a spiel about how when he was young, his father would often tell him that very saying. He then went on to talk of the day his block buster film Independence Day was released in the U.S, his father called him up and said “Son you know what I always said to you.” And Will answered “Yes there’s no such thing as luck, I know dad.” To which his father replied “Son, forget that, you are one lucky son of a bitch!” Independence Day went on to break all box office opening day records. It was, I guess, a marketing stroke of genius.

My mother always said “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” However she is one of the hardest working people that I know. She runs her own successful small business which she started with nothing but a dream and few hundred dollars, there were those that thought she was nuts. She’s had many setbacks and some failures. She has seen hard times in the industry, survived bad partnerships and times when she couldn’t afford to employ staff, recently she had a robbery. Every day she is there and she is happy to be there, because she loves what she does – sure she can’t afford a nice car, but she learns everyday– at times with more resistance than at others. As a master she remains a student. Amazingly she relies on friends and volunteers and they come because my mother has that way about her, a love of her industry that is infectious and she is generous to a fault. So it isn’t luck that has kept her afloat for nearly ten years - its love and hard work. At times I thought, give up and go on welfare, but she doesn’t do it for money, she does it for a life. At heart she never wanted to be rich. She learns and meets more people every day she is there, who in one way or another enrich her life. It is her journey and her vision of wealth. And it’s better than sitting at home or working in a dead end job. There is method in her madness.

She has taught me so much, about business, about life and about success, just by observing her all these years. And that is worth its weight in gold, that’s an education you can’t buy – that I am lucky to have. She has lead by example and she has always been there to help, me and anyone else who needs it.

Success is defined by you and it can be doing well at something that you love. If so you are lucky to find what that is for you, run with it. Work hard at it.

People who are successful aren’t afraid of failure; I would estimate they fail far more. They just don’t dwell on it. They don’t self sabotage. I have learnt to ignore the haters, don’t let the bad energy of anyone else renew through you. Take the high road.

Achievement is made through timing, hard work and good marketing but on a basic level it’s you taking risks, creating your own opportunities. The longest journey starts with the smallest step, one out of your comfort zone. People see the achievement, but what they don’t see is the nine times you tried and were denied. We learn far more through our mistakes.

Inadvertently my mother taught me to have goals and to make a plan in order to find my fortune. If you chose a job you love you will never work a day in your life. I believe you find your own luck, but only if you look for it and accept it when it comes.

Most things are a matter of perspective. What others view as hard luck may be a learning curve and what others view as your good luck is actually the result of years of toil, endured so that when you met your opportunity, you were ready for it.

But then there are those who are just lucky, they had a different path. Be happy for them their luck might rub off on you!

- Tina Smith Author of Wolf Sirens