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Don’t believe in luck

Harley Lovegrove
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When I was in my early twenties a very successful businessman once said to me that he didn’t believe in luck. “I make my own luck” he said. “Making money is about staying focused and never forgetting why you’re in business”. I must say he made an impression on me but there was something cold about him, something that made me feel uncomfortable about emulating his style. 

Last Saturday night I had to give an impromptu fill in speech during the finals of the Young Belgian Talent competition in Brussels, and although it was not so much aimed at the young musicians in the hall but the business leaders and sponsors, I decided to re-visit the topic on luck and the conversation I had with the businessman all those years ago. 

It is clear to me that no matter how good you are at what you do, no talent scout is going to knock on your door unless you go to the places where talent scouts hang about.

The simple truth is that even if you are an amazing musician and even if you do manage to meet the person that can give you your big break, you have to ask yourself the fundamental question – Why should they? Think about it. Talent scouts, agents, whatever you want to call them, have probably met tens or hundreds of musicians like you, so why should they pick you? The answer is simple:

You will have:

  1. Engaged them with an interesting and challenging question
  2. Made an emotional connection as well as an intellectual one
  3. Allowed them to believe that they can help you. (No agent or entrepreneur likes to see a person in front of them that thinks they can make it on their own. First reaction is – then why are you talking to me)?
  4. Re-assured them that you have got it together, that you have the stamina to cope with doing what you do, day in, day out – no matter what the circumstances
  5. Made them feel that you are a nice person and could be fun to have around. (After all you’re going to have to spend a lot of time together over the next years).

In the strictest sense of the word I don’t believe in luck. But if you accept the definition of luck as being ‘Where preparation and opportunity meet’ then I am the biggest believer in the world. There is no ‘luck’ without preparation and no luck without making the most of every opportunity that comes our way.  In fact I go further, opportunities almost never come our way, we have to go out and find them! So perhaps after all the business man was right, it was probably just his attitude that failed to engage me.

Have a good week,

Harley

Written by

Harley Lovegrove

Harley is a dynamic 'we can do this' kind of person with a successful track record of working for a wide variety of companies in all kinds of sectors. From very small family run businesses right through to giant multi-nationals. Over the last thirty five years Harley has built a reputation for inspiring those around him to rout out and tackle the core problems facing their organizations. Armed with a wide range of pragmatic tools that he has developed over the years, Harley is able to help his clients bring about long-term, sustainable solutions, while having fun at the same time. Harley is a motivational 'people person' who is nonetheless tough on efficiency and delivery. Apart from being well known for his highly entertaining and motivational speeches, Harley is also a blogger and author of four books; 'The Change Manager's Handbook', 'Transition', 'Inspirational Leadership’ and ‘Making a Difference’.

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  1. B Bertrand -
    I believe and often state that anyone who want to get "lucky" enough to be given the chance to do or achieve what she or he wants to has understand 5 things, most are quite close or even paraphrasing what you write in this article: 1) I am responsible for defining or being able to simply describe what it is I want to achieve or at least what's important to me, both when "speaking" to myself or to others 2) I must understand the role I play in creating a context where opportunities arise, that this is not exactly luck but more like gardening, progressively bringing together all the conditions under which either the seeds I planted will grow or seeds from others will find a potential to set in and grow 3) I must accept that life, professional or personal, is made of small or big, painful or joyful, positive or negative events that will require me to rework, adapt, rebuild, evolve what I've built on the previous point but that will also create as many new opportunities, I can call this bad or good luck and they sometimes are but in most cases they do find their source in my own (in)action or attitude and are great sources of lessons learned 4) I am not alone, other people are the key to many of my locked doors, issues, objectives, desires ... meeting them, sharing with them while indeed leaving them the space to play a role in my life will create the relationships I will potentially, maybe or surely need in a more or less distant future 5) Finally, I must have the right attitude, curiosity, open-mind, integrity, honesty, enthusiasm and yes an ability to engage others but also be engaged by them in a mutual and fruitful discussion, dialogue, collaboration, relationship, ... To me, understanding these 5 points is indeed gaining the ability to create your own "luck". However, point 3 remains and believing you're in control of every unforeseen, unplanned, unexpected positive or negative events or that these won't occur and possibly influence your plans, directions, goals or ambitions is being badly mistaken. Doing so you risk loosing the skill to indeed see the role you have to play in preparing, the role you have to play in detecting / identifying both risks and opportunities and ultimately the skills to make them match and create the chemical reaction that will help you progress in your life and make a difference.

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