As I was preparing myself to pack my things after a long workshop that I conducted, a lady wearing a white dress and a beautiful smile on her face stood right in front of me and said, "you are a very fortunate young man to meet all those great entrepreneurs and business leaders who taught you their secrets to be successful."
The talk that I gave that day was about my interactions with great people who have guided me in my personal and professional life.
Immediately, I remembered Oprah Winfrey's quote which says, "I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn't been prepared when that opportunity comes, you wouldn't have been lucky."
I reminisced the time that I invested in practicing and rehearsing. It was really hard to implement and apply the strategies that influential people have taught me. However, from other's perspective, I was just a lucky young man to have met these great people.
In today's day and age, being successful in any endeavours has been much easier because the information and the knowledge that are essential to be successful is just at the tip of our fingertips. If this information and knowledge are not put into use, then that would be wasting the resources that are already readily available.
Imagine what it would look like if the amazing people who gave me all the information that I needed to be successful and yet I did nothing with it. It is like you've been practising on how to play the piano or singing and spent years studying about the subject that you are passionate about and then someone comes into your life and tell you that you are very talented and lucky to be able to play the piano like that. That same person praised your ability but did not consider or even think of the painful process you had to go through just so you'll be good at what you do.
Hard work equates to being lucky. The truth is that there is no short cut. You need to invest your time and effort to get the result that you yearn for. Being lucky is when your hard work meets opportunity. When your devotion to your craft finally pays off. Imagine you commit to yourself to be the best at what you do and you tell yourself that you want to do everything in your power just to master your craft. It does not only give you satisfaction, but you will live a more fulfilling life. When you work hard and put in your effort, you will be rewarded. Remember, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.