Is your success due to luck? Or, is it something else?
Are successful people just luckier? This question was posed to author and researcher Jim Collins several years ago at the REAL Trends Gathering of Eagles Conference. The renowned author of “Good to Great” and other books documenting the keys to success in business, had finished his speech and had opened the floor to questions. “What is the role of luck?” asked one of the real estate executives.
“That is a great question!” commented Mr. Collins. “We just finished a research study on the role of luck in business. Our conclusion is that luck definitely plays a role. However, what we found was the most successful people took advantage of luck when it showed up whereas the less successful people let luck pass them by or did not even recognize luck when it arrived.
How to Recognize Luck
How do you position yourself to recognize luck and take advantage of it when it arrives? Follow a simple formula called the 3-D (Dream, Dedicate, Dare) Success Formula. I’ve been very lucky in my business career, and I’m most grateful. I credit much of this success to the 3-D Success Formula. Many of my lucky business friends follow this formula as well.
Dream. Successful people have a vision. Because of this vision, a part of their brain, called the Reticular Activating System (RAS), opens to the vision. This part of the brain is a focusing device that starts non-consciously scanning for any information that will lead to the vision. The RAS is your onboard Google search engine. Properly programmed, you begin to see things that others don’t see. For those who don’t have the vision, the opportunity or luck is filtered out. They simply never see it.
Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, said, “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It starts with vision. President John Kennedy, after his famous man on the moon speech, was confronted by the scientific community and told, “With all due respect Mr. President, we do not have the technology to go to the moon.” President Kennedy responded, “The ‘what’ comes first. The ‘how to’ will follow.”
Adventurer and explorer Dr. John Goddard put it this way, “When you establish compelling goals, you engage a mysterious force that magnetically attracts the people and experiences necessary to accomplish your objectives.” With vision, you recognize luck when it shows up.
Dedicate. “The harder you work, the luckier you get!” When you work hard and prepare yourself physically, mentally, financially, assemble the right team and scale your business, you are prepared to take advantage of luck when it arrives. The less dedicated and hard-working people may see the luck, but they have not prepared themselves or their companies to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, they have to let it pass them by.
Dare. When luck arrives, are you prepared to take a risk? Do you have the courage to go for it? If you’ve been dreaming about this opportunity for years and dedicating yourself to preparation for this moment; then daring is a calculated risk—not an impractical risk. The risk may not work out but, most often (if you have done the 3-D’s), it does. You will achieve success most of the time by following the 3-D Success Formula. Observers will call you lucky.
