What is Your Take On Luck?

So, you think you only have bad luck?

Let’s look at what we think about the subject of what we popularly call luck.

How do you go about getting good luck and lots of it?

How do you bring it into your life, so you are never without it and you get it working for you?

Are there any Batman Fans out there?

In the movie Batman: The Dark Knight Harvey Dent uses a coin that has heads on both sides. It’s his way of telling the world that he makes his own luck. That’s one way of telling the universe how things should be eh?

A lot of people think luck doesn’t actually exist. That you have no influence on things and that stuff just happens.

But I’m here to tell you it most definitely does exist.

There is no real mystery to it when you actually stop and think about it. How to you actually find a way though to make it work in your favour.

That’s easy!

Simply by following probably the most well-known (and ignored) tried-and-tested formula known to man:

Preparation + Opportunity = Luck

The truth is most successful people are almost always accused of being lucky by their friends, families, colleagues and anyone else. They say things like he was in the right place at the right time or he/she is just a lucky blighter and always comes out smelling of roses. However, those very same people never see the hard work those so called lucky people put into their work. The thousands of painful failures or any of the other struggles that go into the making of success.

All those envious people see is an apparent lucky overnight success story that has no explanation to them and so they call it luck.

In a way I guess they are actually right in what they say. These people are in fact ‘lucky’.

But, it’s not a totally random form of luck that knows no laws.

It really amounts to a form of controlled luck if ‘luck’ is what you want to call it.

It simply about being smart enough, working hard enough and diligent enough to prepare themselves for the tasks to the best of their ability to put themselves in the path of opportunity.

And so it is with you! Yes You!

Want to be great at what you do? At anything?

Then apply the formula to your life, your work, your dream.  Remember Preparation + Opportunity = Luck

Become great at what you do. Become the best you can be.

Most importantly, make sure you keep your eyes open for opportunity and remember nothing will actually happen without taking ACTION.

Rick D

Striving for Perfection?

People strive for perfection and worry what others think of them. The stress of being less than perfect can take its toll at work if you let it. Have you seen the movie Fight Club?

In the movie the character Tyler Durden says something like ‘’ F**k off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may. ‘’

  You got to love that Tyler. He certainly tells some home truths in that film on how life really is.

Here is the thing you see. There is an epidemic that seems to have spread across the world from top to bottom and side to side

.

It’s called – 'trying-to-be-perfect'.

We have been conditioned to think that our are lives are not perfect unless we have all the perfect things like the perfect partner, apartment, body, clothes, car, the perfect deodorant, the perfect coffee machine… etc. The list goes on and on.

This also affects the way we work and our daily lives. STOP Trying to be perfect. Some try to be the perfect boss, the perfect engineer, secretary,  the perfect behavior and performance ….etc. Striving to be better or the best is one thing but when the obsession to be perfect takes over it puts undue pressure on you to live up to an impossible ideal. Be the best you can be yes, but perfect? You'll never get there as it does not exist.

Stop trying to be perfect!

People are not perfect, there is no such thing. That’s what makes people and life interesting.

A little chaos, unpredictability and surprise in your work will always stimulate you if you can learn to live with it and all your imperfections.

As the character Tyler says in Fight Club, ‘let the chips fall where they may.’

  Aim for making your work outstanding, rather than perfect. Outstanding work isn’t perfect but it is real and genuine. You will find your work life improves and even your personal life once you let go of the impossible dream and just be the best you can be. You are unique and impressive as you are.

Rick D 

No Pretending – Authenticity Rules

By Gini Cunningham

Trials and tribulations, frets and worries abound. Many are valid, most as true, and all touch and change life. Because each encounter, regardless of its seeming importance of the moment, can be quite significant in the long run. And that is where individual authenticity becomes so valuable.

Authenticity is that genuineness that resonates from the soul, from the essence of being. It is the deep, down reality of an individual. It is what makes a person tick and tock; it is a natural rhythm and rock. It creates balance and stability because the person is true to the self, faithful to the heart, and sincere in the soul. While much of authenticity is automatic – we are who we are – it is sometimes difficult to maintain this characteristic. When we enter rough waters and restless situations, finding the “right” answer for ourselves, accepting that our right answer does not necessarily meet the needs of others, may require strength and perspiration not to mention intestinal fortitude.

Why would authenticity take so much effort, attention, and determination? I believe it is because basically most people are good. They care about others and they want to create and live in a healthy, happy world. Because of this outward regard, it is easy to lose sight of inward focus. We can lose track of our “self” as we attend to the wants and needs of others. And while we may be behaving with authentic concern, we sometimes disguise our real beliefs and understanding to placate another person’s. A little loss can be a gain in the long run as we learn. A lot of loss can mean becoming sightless of the self.

Examples of this type of lost-ness might be spouses, especially if one is particularly domineering. It is often far simpler to give in, to relent, rather than stand up for a fight. Not a fistfight or screaming match, of course, but just taking a stance for a personal wish, desire, or dream and while being willing to reshape it also recognizing that staying with it is essential to authenticity. In an authentic relationship, both participants listen, offer feedback, and then compromise without losing sight of the true desires of the soul while accepting that give-and-take is valuable. Since authenticity by nature should be kind, even when ideas and opinions differ respect reigns and decisions are made with the very best intent.

Parents, especially in my observations, mothers, may become lost in child rearing. In this case it is not so much that authenticity vanishes but that concern for another being supersedes all choices and situations. Part of this is good – parenting is a tremendous responsibility where selfishness must be put aside for the well-being of the child. Parents determined to remain in their own self-centered realm while children self-raise are relinquishing a key component of the parenting role. But this responsibility does not mean total loss of self, but rather a strengthening of moral fiber that will be reflected and absorbed by children.

I find authenticity to be a challenging but gratifying characteristic. I believe I have the genuineness and honesty areas under control and I believe that most people with whom I work recognize this in my behavior and deeds. I also admit that sometimes I waffle and waver to try to satisfy others and that is when bits of my authenticity slip away. The good thing is that these slippings are recoverable. Just because I bow to another today to try to pull a team together does not mean that this part of me is forever lost. I can regroup, re-examine, and regain that authenticity that makes me, me.

 

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