Get Lucky!
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Seneca
I lost an old friend the other day. A woman who had a promising career with a National Dance company years ago who had to quit dance because of physical problems. She left New York and relocated to the Midwest where she worked productively in the private sector always demonstrating her good heart and basic kindness. Unfortunately she became a victim of the employment turmoil of the recent years. She lost her job due to reorganization and then struggled to just find anything that would allow her to live. Sadly the burden became so heavy that she gave up.
I wish I could have helped her but we lost touch a few years back. If has not been easy time for far too many and much of my time is spent meeting with people who are working through similar problems. Fortunately most do work through their problems, many through increasing their involvement with others and seeing themselves in a different light. The one thing most have in common is that they don’t rely on luck, they do something. Today I’d like to share an article with you written by author Sean Platt that I think has great value and can work for everyone.
How To Be Lucky In A World Of Unlucky People
You Need a Network
Isolated, few opportunities will fall your way. New jobs, fresh fortune and random strokes of great luck are often the simple result of being plugged into the right network at the right time. Make it a habit of trading contact information with everyone you meet, then touching base every so often. Keep your exchanges friendly, natural, and helpful at all times. Multiply the people that know who you are and what you do, and you will multiply life’s ample opportunities.
Shift Your Perspective
Mishap and misfortune happen to everyone. You WILL always have setbacks, but it’s important to remember you can’t live in denial. You must actively shift your perspective to a more positive outlook and keep searching for the hidden opportunities that exist in every situation.
Many people are resistant to re-framing their life view because they don’t think it’s “realistic” to look for a positive way to view negative situations, yet even the Great Depression saw the steady rise of many “lucky” millionaires. Lucky people understand that there might not be any way of changing the past, but they can always change their minds and see life in a way that allows them to move forward rather than wallow in place.
Put Yourself Out There
Do you know anyone who sits on the couch or surfs the Net all the live long day with something to show for it by the time the sun sets? I didn’t think so.
The more you participate in life, the more great luck will leap your way. The more active you are, the more opportunities you will have to find yourself in the right place and right time. Instead of waiting at home, hoping luck just happens along, go out and find it, then bring it back home where it belongs.
Be Grateful for What You Do Have
Gratitude puts you in the right frame of mind and makes it easy to recognize the right opportunities. When you incorporate gratitude into your life, it is easy to see all the lucky things that have already been happening to you each and every day. That sense of wonder and natural humility is the true antidote for feeling unlucky.
Learn to Take Chances
You won’t always succeed when you take risks, but remember, every chance taken is a new opportunity to learn and will make every forward step simpler than the one before. And remember, without risk there is no reward. Sure, only betting on a sure thing might mean you’ll never lose. But how often will you win?
We DO make our own luck. Start living like you mean it, and you’ll be lucky, too.
Sean Platt
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Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.
R.E. Shay
~~~
“I was relaxing in my favorite chair on Sunday,” said Doug to Bill, “reading the newspaper, watching a ball game on TV and listening to another on the radio, drinking a beer, eating a snack, and scratching the dog with my foot — and my wife has the nerve to accuse me of just sitting there doing nothing !”
~~~
Why do you get on a bus and a train but get into a car?
~~~
A class professor was giving a lecture on company slogans and was asking his students if they were familiar with them.
“Joe,” he asked, “which company has the slogan, ‘come fly the friendly skies’?”
Joe answered the correct airline.
“Brenda, can you tell me which company has the slogan, “Don’t leave home without it?”
Brenda answered the correct credit card company with no difficulty.
“Now John, Tell me which company bears the slogan, ‘Just do it’?”
And John answered, “Mom….”
~~~
Always keep several get well cards on the mantel;
if unexpected guests arrive, they will think you’ve been sick and unable to clean.
~~~
A man calling refrigerator repair service: “My refrigerator isn’t working!”
“What kind is it?”
“It’s a small one.”
“Electric, gas or propane?”
“Propane.”
“Ah! Then the problem is most likely vapor lock. You don’t need a service call, just turn the refrigerator upside down for a few minutes to allow the lock to clear. Then put it back and all should be well”
Second call, a few minutes later: “The least you could have done is to tell me to empty the fridge first!”
~~~
Without geography, you’re nowhere.
~~~
A minister told his congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17.”
The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said, “Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.”
~~~
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.
Charles Schulz
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I pulled into the crowded parking lot at the Super Wal-Mart Shopping Center and rolled down the car windows to make sure my Labrador Retriever pup had fresh air. She was stretched full-out on the back seat and I wanted to impress upon her that she must remain there. I walked to the curb backward, pointing my finger at the car and saying emphatically, ‘Now you stay. Do you hear me?’ ‘Stay! Stay!’
The driver of a nearby car, a pretty blonde young lady, gave me a strange look and said,
‘Why don’t you just put it in park ?’
~~~
I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson
~~~
Stay well, do good work, and have fun.
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
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