Lots of folks who haven’t achieved the success they say they hope to achieve blame their situation on “luck.” They ascribe their circumstances to “bad luck” and dismiss the success of others as “good luck.”
This attitude keeps them from reaching their full potential and also keeps them from independence.
As long as you are in any way guilty of blaming someone else for a situation in your own life, you are doomed to dependence. It is only when we are able to take full responsibility for our choices that we are prepared to move forward and to craft our own independence.
Really stop for a moment and sift out the above quote: as long as we assign any power to a force outside our own control, we surrender our fate to that entity. We are dismissing our own part in our development. We discount our own capabilities and responsibilities to ourselves.
When we assume responsibility for our choices, our perspective shifts. When we can internalize and acknowledge, “I choose to do [ _____ ] because [ _____ ],” we align our values with our actions.
When we harness that kind of accountability, doors open and opportunities appear. We can discern situations and options that will most benefit our ultimate goals. Even when a choice we make turns out to not be the best decision it could have been (or we were ‘wrong’), we still are in a better position for becoming independent. Taking ownership of our mistakes enables us to see our part in it, change our behavior and future outcomes.
To the outside observer, this can appear to be “luck.” What it is: putting ourselves in the best possible position for future growth. People wish to be associated with those who take responsibility for their lives.
Again, think about it. Which is more appealing: hanging around with a bunch of people who blame everyone one else for the quagmire of their life or with those who understand their part in their lives?
As long as we drift along on the flotsam and jetsam of wishes and false beliefs in an elusive “luck,” we will be rudderless and ineffective.
There are a zillion quotes about luck, including a couple that immediately come to mind: “the harder I work, the luckier I get,” and “luck is where opportunity meets preparation.” For what it’s worth, I prefer the latter. The first implies that simply working “hard” is enough. Not necessarily. The latter is an example of what is known as “working smarter.”
Do your homework when attempting to reach a goal:
- Is it in line with my strengths?
- Is my heart in it?
- Do I understand the industry?
- Do I have a plan for my growth, success?
- Is there a means to measure my goals?
Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive)