The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

3/11/13 The Luck O’ The…Intentional?

St. Patrick’s Day is coming. It’s a time when we might think about the concept of Luck… and maybe whether it might “come our way.” Over the last few years, our office has been remarkably successful in providing outstanding service to our students and community partners, and we have maximized our resources in the face of diminishing budgets and the number of staff. Have we just been lucky? Maybe, right? But what is luck anyway? In past quips, I have repeated a great definition of success as the confluence of preparation and opportunity. Is luck (fate/kismet/destiny/providence/instant karma) in the opportunity? Maybe. But, don’t we make our own opportunities, too, when we keep our heads up and make our brains aware of them. And, when has anyone ever been successful when they couldn't capitalize on an opportunity because they weren't prepared? We can NEVER get so lost in the crises of the moment that we cease to plan and prepare and be ready for an opportunity. We must intentionally set aside a portion of our time and attention to the consideration of new opportunities and to the creation of an environment that allows them to incubate. As Ernest Hemingway said, we must never stop doing what we do and being the best we can be because sometimes we will have “good luck” and become “better than we can” be. Let’s be intentionally lucky.