I was watching the Masters Golf Tournament on Sunday afternoon - the first faculty position that I accepted out of fellowship was at the Children's Medical Center at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, so the Masters holds special interest for me personally. Sunday turned out to be a great day to watch golf, as the tournament came down to the final pairing of Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. The fact that Sergio Garcia was even in the running seemed pretty lucky - he had a couple of disastrous holes on the back nine before rallying to tie the tournament up on the last few holes. Both golfers had a chance to win on the 18th and final hole, but both golfers missed their putts. Sergio ended up winning in the subsequent play-off. It was his first major golf championship of his career.
One could certainly argue that luck played a role in Sergio's final round. However, while I certainly believe in "luck", I think that the truly great players, regardless of what sport, make their own luck. I would go even farther to say that no matter what you do for a living, you create your own luck. As a famous American proverb said, "Good luck is the twin of hard work." The individuals that work hard are the same ones that end up lucky!
Thomas Jefferson once said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." I completely agree! If you work hard and do your best, you will have a greater chance of success in whatever endeavor you choose. Peter Economy wrote an article for "Inc." magazine entitled, "5 powerful ways to make your own luck every day". He lists five ways to "make your own luck", and I think you will agree with him:
1. "Tap into your optimism" - hard work and a great attitude go a long way!
2. "Be open to the possibilities" - take advantage of whatever life throws your way.
3. "Listen to your inner voice" - follow your intuition as much as you can.
4. "Shoot for the moon" - aim high, set your goals in advance and work hard to achieve them.
5. "There is no finish line" - never stop! Be persistent and continue to grow and learn.
Good advice for individuals. Even better advice for leaders.
Thanks for the post (and for the consistent posting in general!).
ReplyDeleteYou're likely already familiar with it, but I find Jim Collin's concept of Return on Luck concept to be a helpful added lens to what you're sharing here. If you haven't read this book of his (it seems less popular than Good to Great and Built to Last), I'll mention that the study they did on luck events between comparison companies was a pretty clever way to explore the concept in a business setting.
Cheers!
https://hbr.org/2011/11/three-ways-to-manage-good-or-b