The Eight-Penny Bracelet

by Grant Gillard

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  To learn more of the author, Grant F.C. Gillard go to:

  https://www.grantgillard.weebly.com

  Also by Grant F.C. Gillard

  an excerpt from

  “Better Luck THIS Time: Making Good Luck Happen”

  https://www.createspace.com/4147010

  “This Thing We Call Luck”

  There was a time in my life when I began to notice how some people were getting ahead of the rest of us. I looked around and I saw the most unlikely people achieving their goals and living their dreams, the same dreams I hoped to achieve for myself.

  I couldn’t account for the disparity between my results and their success. They seemed to be the luckiest people I ever met. I knew I was working hard, and just as hard as they were, but I was not receiving the same results.

  The prevailing advice at the time was, “Don’t work harder; work smarter.” Yet these people I envied were not necessarily educated or smarter than anyone else. But they had more to show for their efforts. I simply concluded that they had to be lucky, and that luck simply eluded me.

  But then I asked the question: Why can’t I be lucky, too? What were they doing that made good luck happen for them? How is it that luck just seemed to shine down on their unworthy (my judgment) efforts.

  I drew near to these people in an attempt to discover their secret. I was curious how these seemingly ordinary (and perhaps undeserving?) people achieved success when I worked so hard and I was just getting by. It had to be luck. I began to ask myself, how did they get so lucky? How can I help myself achieve those lucky breaks I always wish would happen?

  As it turns out, I discovered luck is not a fluke of fate, an unexpected stroke of good fortune, or even a random chance event. Luck is preparation meeting opportunity, and preparation is no secret.

  As you read the rest of this book, I’m going to show you how to prepare and make good luck happen to you. When we prepare, the ball is in our court. If you have the ball, you control the game. Good luck is not outside the realm of our control. It is something we can make happen, but there are specific things that we need to do in order to facilitate luck’s benevolent visit.

  However, to believe in luck and make it happen requires one to correct two erroneous conclusions. The first false conclusion that everyone accepts as fact is that luck is something elusive and fickle. Supposedly, it just happens, like buying a lucky winning lottery ticket. This is just not true.

  If luck is as random as we fear, then we begin to believe we’ll never achieve success. From this perspective, luck only comes to those who happen to be in the right place at the right time, we presume, by accident, coincidence, or fate. And isn’t it painfully ironic how we never seem to be in the right place at the right time, or do you find yourself at the right place but at the wrong time?

  The second false conclusion is that we believe luck is something magical, almost mystical in its rewards. When we believe this conclusion, we accredit luck to the forces behind lucky rabbit’s feet, four-leaf clovers, and rubbing the bald spot on Uncle Pete’s head just before the opening kick-off to the football game. We think luck comes when we wear our lucky underwear to the job interview or say the prayer to St. Roscoe of Palmer in hopes of escaping the consequences of our procrastination.

  In reality, luck is not as elusive as we fear, nor as mystically manipulative as we hope. The bottom line is that luck is life’s opportunity meeting our preparation. The people we enviously deem lucky are those who prepared, planned, and positioned themselves to take advantage of an opportunity.

  Still, many of us must redefine what it means to be lucky. Some people find it hard to reconcile the notion of luck with a religious faith. As I define luck as opportunity meeting preparation, it follows the same corollary of “God helps those who help themselves.”

  If you are squeamish about the superstitious connotation of luck, think of luck in a utilitarian sense as achieving your dreams and goals. And you know that to achieve these ends, it takes work (i.e. preparation) and timing (i.e. opportunity). Fool around lazily and procrastinate and you’ll have “bad luck.” Work hard and smart (preparation and opportunity) and you’ll find incredible doors that open before your eyes.

  When we purposely prepare, or prepare with a purpose in mind, we discover the opportunity of our dreams, we achieve our goals. Are we really lucky? Or is our success the result of old fashioned hard work? What I call luck may be defined by someone else as the fruition of strategic positioning in anticipation of desired event.

  We must also acknowledge our myths about how lucky people get that way. The luckiest people I know don’t put their trust in magical charms, nor do they sit back waiting for some fateful entity to give them the magic key to life’s treasure chest out of goodwill. Lucky people prepare. They know to show up. They keep their eyes and ears open. There’s nothing magic about luck.

  Each day brings and abundance of opportunities disguised in a variety of events, circumstances, and relationships. The average person isn’t prepared to receive the opportunity, and thus, they continue to miss out on achieving their goals (or what they call “bad” luck). Many people aren’t prepared to even recognize an opportunity when it knocks on their door.

  Luck is opportunity that meets our preparation. Hence, if you want to be lucky, you need to be ready to take advantage of the opportunity tomorrow brings. You need to prepare today. Tomorrow’s opportunity is of no value if you’re not prepared. The good news is that each of us possesses the power to prepare and make reasonable choices that open our futures to the possibilities of unlimited opportunities.

  And here’s something else I want you to remember through out this entire book: preparation also opens other doors we never knew existed. We may prepare for a certain goal in mind, but life is full of surprises. But if you don’t prepare, then you never knew what might have been.

  As we go through this book on discovering and defining what luck is and how we can create our own lucky breaks, I hope to dismiss the powerlessness we often feel when others succeed and we feel left out. I hope to instill a measure of faith that you would begin to feel comfortable taking calculated risks as you plan your future and anticipate unforeseen opportunities. I want you to stop blaming “bad” luck on your laziness, your procrastination, or your foolish neglect and ignorance.

  I also hope to give you the confidence to realize that luck doesn’t happen by accident. Most lucky breaks happen because we plan, prepare, and position ourselves as life rewards our anticipation with opportunity. Perhaps our preparation attracts opportunity, even creating the most appropriate opportunity. Either way, without preparation, we’re not prepared to take advantage of life’s opportunities.

  As you read through this book, think of those people in your life you would describe as lucky. Chances are real good that you’ll begin to see how their preparation paid off and that good luck is really no accident. Further, preparation has a way of making opportunities materialize right before our eyes. No preparation goes unrewarded.

  Luck is something we make for ourselves through planning, hard work, perseverance and determination. But all these plans must be set appropriately in the right context. This book will show you how to put those pieces together. We all possess the power and the ability to make good luck happen. Why not you?

  Check out the web site at: https://creategoodluck.weebly.com/

  Or go directly to: https://www.createspace.com/4147010