LOOK WHAT I'VE WON!

This is a bit of a ramble about luck.

Luck.  Here's the Chambers definition:

luck noun 1. chance, especially as it is perceived as influencing someone's life at specific points in time. 2. good fortune. 3. events in life which cannot be controlled and seem to happen by chance...........

"You make your own luck" is one of those glib expressions that work colleagues and bosses have said occasionally over the years.  I have never believed that.  How can you make something happen with certainty that is down to the roll of the proverbial dice?  You can have a go, make a bet, buy a lottery ticket, enter a competition, apply for a job, etc, etc but you can't make those things a certainty for you unless you cheat or enter into some criminal activity, but then even that kind of chicanery is not a guarantee of success. 

You can prepare for things to the nth degree for what you believe is a sure thing, but it is still a game of chance. I heard someone say "you make your own luck" recently on the radio and it got me thinking about the sheer amount of meaningless claptrap that permeates business life, sports punditry, social networking and life in general.

God knows, we only have to spend a few minutes on Twitter to read all kinds of pseudo-sage advice. I'm as guilty as anybody. I add my tuppence on a regular basis.  But if you really can make your own luck, it can be either good luck or bad luck, can't it?  Either way, you're not in the driving seat. Depend on the rabbit's foot if you like but remember it didn't work for the rabbit. In the Sunday Times Rich List, for example, there are winners of huge lottery jackpots in the ranks.  Did they make their own luck or did they just buy a ticket that happened to coincide with the big money balls?  

I am a competitions junkie.  If I see a prize worth going for, I enter.  In recent years I have won:

a Mini car (that's a real car, not a toy!)

a £4,500 holiday to Alberta, Canada
a £500 cosmetics/perfumes hamper

a TV

an X Box

a bench top tool system/saw set

a weekend in Cornwall

a few National Lottery tenners

a few Premium Bond £25s

an outdoor jacket

a selection of computer accessories

several books

several DVDs

several CDs

several gift cards

etc

etc

I didn't make those things happen. I entered competitions and left it to chance. I got lucky. I did not force the luck.

Having a go at something, an ambition, a career move, a competition or whatever is much more important that not bothering.  

Luck is luck and lethargy rulezzzzz.

Have a go. Have a nice day and, er, good luck.