Lucky you....

Luck…

How often we refer to this phrase and yet we don’t give it much thought. Luck carries a positive & a negative connotation. It also brings about a sense of mysticism & hope.
Have you ever wondered on many occasions that it was sheer Luck that helped you get something or achieve something? Maybe it’s a stroke of Lucj that got you reading this article now! The answer would be YES. In case, your answer is NO, then think harder!

We often hear things like “He is lucky to be in that position?”, “He is not as good as you are but he is Lucky to get the opportunity”, “ It was sheer Luck that helped complete the project on time!” & so on. So, I believe somewhere we do acknowledge that it’s not only talent & ability that counts for your success. It’s also a critical factor called – LUCK!

Now if that sounds like blasphemy, you must read on.

Does Luck follow any scientific law or is it a natural occurrence or is it sheer superstition? Whatever it is, Luck is Universal & plays on all. We always refer to Luck as though it has nothing to do with us in reality and more like a phrase while reflecting on situations.
But I see Luck as a force on which you have no direct control yet it plays a very big role in all that you do & don’t.

In today’s Management world, we look at things very technically. That’s what we have been taught in B-schools & in our jobs. They say, if you do the right things the right way, you achieve success. The Western style of management preaches this. It states that achieving success is completely in your hands. If you want to you can! That’s erring on the side of arrogance.
But on the contrary, have you ever wondered that there is an uncontrolled factor that always has an influence on the things you do and on the outcome? The traditional Indian style of Management in fact accounts this as one of the success factor. Now this is not going to be a debate about Indian Management style versus the Western. But, I am trying to bring forth an important factor that we tend to ignore more often.
You would have heard or sometime said it yourself; when things have gone well that it was because of hard work and your ability, but when things have not, you would blame it on your bad luck.
I would say, that if there is humility then every good thing or successful achievement has an element of Luck in it. Take any of your achievements, however big or small, and analyze the number of elements or factors that could have gone wrong to deprive you of your achievement. Now, you would definitely say – YES, I was lucky!

As per Chanakya (he was one of the best Management Gurus, though highly underrated), who quotes from the Sankhya philosophy dating 3000 BC, he states Success always comes from Action; and Action comes from 5 factors:
• The Basis of Action or the Objective
• The Doer of Action or the Person responsible
• Means of Action or the Process
• Efforts of the Doer
• Chance or LUCK

It’s a combination of all the 5 factors that the Action results in Success. Devoid of any one, there isn’t success!
It’s very interesting to see even at that era, there was a conscious recognition of the element of LUCK!

This continues till date across cultures and regions in many forms. Aren’t there Lucky Numbers, Lucky colors for all of us or for people we know? How does that work? I fondly recollect during my Engineering days, one of my friends wore the same shirt for all the exams he appeared. And that was across 8 to 10 papers for each semester. And he wore the same shirt everyday of the exams for all the 8 semesters we had!!! The Shirt was preserved for 4 good years and worn only during exams. Obviously, this was his Lucky shirt. I am sure you can recount similar instances.

I am true believer in Luck & I realized that the harder I work, the more I get of it!
Good Luck in your Life !