The good news is there’s a very simple strategy - or potion - for creating luck.
The bad news is that it takes time and effort.
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I was giving one of my modestly titled Secrets of Success talks to a group of sixth formers this week.
I take them through various insights:
From thinking, to teamwork, persistence, resilience, listening, observing, all the kinds of things you might expect.
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But! I don’t just tell the group what the secrets are.
That would be dull.
Instead, I make them work to discover the precious insights for themselves.
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For example, with persistence, I set them a quiz about famous fails and ask them to draw the conclusion.
That part often features:
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- The Beatles, and all their rejections, not to mention being told guitar groups were on the way out.
- YouTube, its origins as a dating site, and no one being in the slightest interested.
- J. K. Rowling, and all her no thank you very much letters before finally being published.
(And doing pretty well afterwards.)
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Sometimes, if I’m feeling particularly playful…
I’ll ask the group at the start what they think the most important secrets of success in life are.
On this occasion I got an answer I hadn’t heard before, and one which really made me think:
- Luck
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I chewed it over, but then said no.
That can’t be one of the secrets.
Because it’s not within your own power, whereas all the others are.
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He pushed back, we had a discussion, and then I realised my young contributor was right.
Although in a somewhat roundabout way:
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What might appear to be luck, is actually the manifestation of something else.
Something which I would argue is not just one of the Secrets of Success, but the most important of them all.
The secret which I always cover last in the talk, because it makes for a big bang finale...
- Hard work
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In a quotation often attributed to the golfing legend, Gary Player, the way he explained his success...
And which offers a wise insight into what might seem like luck:
- The more I practice, the luckier I get.
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So, about that luck potion:
The one which is simple, yet takes time and effort.
Now you know the big secret.
