Work Hard for Your Luck

"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." ~Stephen Leacock

The only thing that you need luck for is the lottery or the slots in Vegas. Everything else in this world, you can learn enough about that you can change the outcome just from knowing enough about it. Let's think about it.

You might say you need to be lucky to fall in love and get married. It is not hard to fall in love. Love is a choice. It is not something you feel, it is something you do; an action you share with someone else. That means you have to work at that Love with the person you are loving. Take the time to take them out. Take the time to write them little notes. Take them a coffee every now and again.

You might say the stock market takes luck. That's not true either. You can learn a lot about the stock market. There are thousands, maybe even millions of people who are making a killing on the stock market. That is not because of luck. They are making a killing because they understand how the stock market works. They know what they are looking for and know when it is time to buy and when it is time to sell. That is not luck. That is knowledge.

Most people think that gambling takes luck. I will admit there are a lot of games that are purely luck. Slot machines are mostly luck. So are scratch off tickets. If you are playing the game tables, or playing any of the games that require you to make choices, there are ways to improve your odds of winning. There are people who know the games so well, they are able to make a living doing it.

I think the luck Leacock is talking about is the luck of winning in business. A lot of people believe when you are starting a business, you need luck to make that business work. What you really need is a good idea and a lot of hard work. That is when the business will succeed. Luck really does not have anything to do with it.

Love, Strength & Courage

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu

I don't know why I like this quote. There is something truthful about the words. I wonder if it is the same for men as it is for women. I know when I think about it, women tend to give men their strength. If it wasn't for women, I don't think men would ever do anything. I think they would sit around and do as little as possible. When women (or anyone you might care for) comes into the picture, then men want to do things for her. The man wants to give her everything he possibly can. It takes courage to do that.

When that same person loves you back, that just makes you want to do more. It becomes a cycle. She loves you. That gives you the courage to do the things that will make you successful. Loving her in return makes you strong enough to continue to do the things that make him and her successful. The cycle continues as long as they continue to love each other.

So here is what I suggest that you do. Take the time to find someone who you can love. Allow that love to give you the strength you need to build your life. When she loves you back, that will give you the courage to continue to do the things you need to do to continue to grow your life together. It will take that courage to have kids and to be the parents you want to be.

Strength, Courage and Love. Those are a fantastic combination.