Lucky - After 10,000 Tries

I love hearing people talk about their success with the following statement:

"I just got lucky."

Egads, people! Wake up and spell the four-leaved clovers! In reality the odds of luck happening to you are - well, in similar respect to the lottery.

But there are ways to tip the scales in your favor.

It's called hard work.

My grandmother used to keep a small plaque hung over her kitchen sink (because there was no window there) and it read:

Good Things Come
To He Who Waiteth
If He Worketh Like Heck
While He Waiteth.

That's what being lucky is all about.

Seth Godin's recent "Luck Parade" post give a glimpse into what this "get lucky" mentality is all about.

Yes, timing is a factor, but as Godin points out, "luck travels in packs".

There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity waiting around every corner, folks. They're not all waiting for you, mind you, but they're out there.

And yes, you could be the first to strike it rich in some up-and-coming business category, but even if you're not first, if you're in the pack, you'll "be lucky" when success starts handing out passports to paradise.

But you know what? The work still had to be done before you could get lucky.

Edison's world famous light bulb is the testament to that. He didn't make it happen on the first try. And because he was SO cutting edge at the time, people were actually flouting his failure in his face. He refused to acknowledge defeat, thus the popular phrase: I didn't fail 10,000 times, I found 10,000 ways that didn't work.

But yeah, Edison got lucky - after 10,000 tries.