Have you ever been told you were lucky for something you achieved when actually you worked for it or took risks to get it? I lost count of the times when people that told me I was lucky and they didn't know me or what I had to go through to get where I am. It got to the point where I felt quite upset whenever anyone told me I was lucky because my fortune had nothing to do with chance and everything to do with me taking great risks, having no fear and a certain amount of work.
I started my adult life in a hostel for homeless teenagers and I am not blowing my own trumpet to say it was no small thing to get to where I am now. I believe people say others were lucky to take the shine off someone else's achievements so their lack of progress in life is excused or explained by something random and not due to their own laziness or poor choices.
So if what people describe as luck actually isn't luck then what is it? In my opinion what people want to say is: "your good fortune is random or occurred simply by chance". What I now believe is that luck is what we make of it and has nothing to do with randomness or chance. Hence why making your own luck has been discussed and promoted for centuries. Luck is a great word, it's just a shame it is misused and misunderstood.
When I started to analyze all of this a few years ago it occurred to me straight away that I had been creating my own luck since I was about nineteen years old and I was quite good at it. This spurred me on to write my book How To Be Lucky to counter the critics who wanted to put my success down to chance.
After looking at my success skills and what made me succeed where others had failed I have now compiled a pretty comprehensive book which tells my story as well as my guide for others but these are the key points to show you how to be lucky:
- Recognize and take the opportunities presented to you. Don't be afraid to ask for them either.
- Have no fear of risk or failure. Staying where you are might feel comfortable but it isn't comfortable. Comfortable is being truly happy and making enough money to totally enjoy your life and your freedom.
- Make things happen. Don't wait for something to land in your lap, go and get it. If things don't seem to be working out for you then actively change it, you have the power to write your own future, don't waste it.
- Understand life is short, don't wait around thinking there will always be another chance or another day because there might not be. A year from now you might regret not starting today.
- Attitude is very important, other people will buy into anything if the person selling it has the right attitude.
- Surround yourself with the right people. Some drag you up to their standard and others drag you down. Look for those that help you up and make sure you look after them too.
For more information see my blog http://mattkinsella.com
Matt Kinsella is the author of How To Be Lucky, a book about how Matt came from a teenage homeless hostel to become a successful entrepreneur and his guide to how others can do something similar. How To Be Lucky is not about chance or the kind of luck you need to win the lottery it's about making your own luck. The philosophies and techniques Matt discovered that helped him turn his life around changed his life so much he saw no reason why he could not document them along with his story and turn them into his book How To Be Lucky, to help people achieve great success from nothing in the same way he did.
For a small taste of what Matt's about click here for your free ebook