You can make your own luck.
Among other things or concepts, this is one that took me a while to understand.
I’ve heard people say that you make your own luck, but I did not understand it because luck seemed to be, to me at least, something random, like a star falling out of the sky exactly when I decided to look up.
Well, the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I realized that it is true.
Although luck has a random side that can’t be canceled or denied, it also has a predictable side that you and I can control.
The law of averages.
The more you put into anything, the more you will get out.
You have two salesmen. They are both trying to sell vacuum cleaners. The first has a 50% success rate, and the second has a 20% success rate.
How will the second salesman ever be able to sell more than the first? Yup, you’ve guessed it. More input. More calls.
Obsession and hard work will beat talent every day of the week.
That is how you make your own luck.
The first salesman is talented and makes ten daily calls, selling five vacuum cleaners. He has a good ratio, a good income, and a well-balanced life. He plays tennis three times a week with his buddies and takes two vacations every year.
The second salesman is not as talented. But he has something that the first salesman lacks – obsession – and he lacks something that the first salesman has – which is an off button. My guy over here with a 20% success rate makes 100 calls a day, sells 20 vacuum cleaners, and he also spends a couple of hours a day looking at investments.
Three hundred sixty-five days in a year. We will subtract eighty for Sundays and other events: holidays and vacations.
So, 365 – 80 = 285 x 5 (the number of vacuum cleaners the first salesman sells in a working day) = 1425 vacuum cleaners sold in one year by the first salesman.
365 – 80 = 285 x 20 (the number of vacuum cleaners sold in a working day by the second salesman) = 5700
This exercise can be applied anywhere by anyone.
The law of averages and obsession will allow you to make your own luck.
By making 100 calls a day, you improve your social and communication skills, and you develop tolerance to the word “No,” which are added bonuses that can never be taken away from you.
There is a common joke here in Romania that goes like this: Jimmy was constantly praying to God to help him win the lottery. One day, God called Saint Peter and told him: Peter, please go to Jimmy and tell him to buy a ticket.
Are you expecting to win the lottery without buying at least one ticket?
Make your own luck.
With love, yours truly, Cristian.