There is no such thing as luck...

Dear...

In his book 'Outliers' Malcolm Gladwell studied top performers in various fields. Luck was not mentioned by him once as a possible cause of the top performers success. According to Malcolm, the real difference between top performers and the rest, is the number of practice hours the top performers put in. In other words it is all about preparation that makes the difference.

The following Zen story illustrates perfectly what Seneca said about 2000 years ago: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunities":
A dramatic ballad singer studied under a strict teacher who insisted that he rehearse day after day, month after month the same passage from the same song, without being permitted to go any further. Finally, overwhelmed by frustration and despair, the young man ran off to find another profession. One night, stopping at an inn, he stumbled upon a recitation contest. Having nothing to lose, he entered the competition and, of course, sang the one passage that he knew so well. When he had finished, the sponsor of the contest highly praised his performance. Despite the student's embarrassed objections, the sponsor refused to believe that he had just heard a beginner perform. "Tell me," the sponsor said, "who is your instructor? He must be a great master." The student later became known as the great performer Koshiji.

Often we see only the results of top performers. When people say: it seems that some people have more luck than others, they are right, it only 'seems' that way. Voltaire the 18th century french writer and philosopher said: "Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause". Bob Proctor explains in his freedom series that the cause of good results is a matter of preparation, dedication, focus and discipline. Both are saying that good results have very little to do with luck, it is the amount and quality of input or preperation that causes good results.

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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~JD