Are you lucky?

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by John Wooden.  He said this “When opportunity presents itself, it is too late to prepare.”  What he is saying is that every day you must prepare for the next, because when an opportunity presents itself you better be ready so you can capitalize on that opportunity.

Do we even know what the next is?  Most of the time I don’t think we do.  Sure some of us may have gone to school to be a doctor, lawyer, a chemist, an engineer, a mechanic, and I could go on and on.  However, I have seen that for the majority of us.  Especially people in business that you really don’t know what the next is.  Especially if you have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Over the last month or so, I have had some significant opportunities come my way.  Some of them I knew would present themselves and others, well, I had no clue, and some I had thought that the opportunity and come and gone.  However. I just continue to prepare, plan, and do.  I haven’t changed what I do.

I was on the phone with a good friend of mine the other day and he reminded me of a quote that I know and I try to live my life by.  He said Brian: Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity.

Here is my question for you today:

Are you putting the time in and preparing, doing the work, doing what is hard and difficult so when the opportunity presents itself you are ready?  I do a lot of hiring of leaders.  The first question I ask them is what have they done to better prepare themselves as a potential leader.  What classes have they attended.  What books have they read.  What seminars have they watched or purchased.  You have to do the work on the front end to reap the benefits on the back-end.  I can’t think of anything worthwhile that this is opposite of that.  You must always work hard, put in the time, and do what is necessary to prepare to reap the benefits on the back-end.

Are you lucky?  The answer to that is yes.  If, and only if, you do the work and you prepare daily, weekly, monthly, you will be prepared. And when opportunity presents itself, you will be ready, and we will let the people who wont do the work tell you it was luck.

To your success and your future.