Work and Luck

         For me, life is an ebb and flow especially when it comes to productivity.  Work pace varies with motivation and energy level.  At times, I can really get stuff done while at others I am the personification of lethargy and wondering how I ever accomplished anything at all.  It seems some people are always operating at full blast while others emulate sloths.  I am in the middle of that.  I oscillate to some inner biorhythm.

But it is not just energy that oscillates for me.  It is also luck.  Sometimes everything just seems to naturally go my way and other times not at all.   Lately, I have been thinking about a quote I thought was from Thomas Edison:  The harder I work the luckier I get.

Well, I had the Thomas part right.  A Google search informed me know that the quote was really from Thomas Jefferson and the one I have been using is a variation of the original:  "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."  This sounds more colonial.  See monticello.org.

I truly believe this.  I am coming out of an energy lull, starting to hit a good stride, and dang if luck is not starting to surge in my direction.  The statistician in me wants to have data and truly establish a correlation, but I am not sure how to track and record it.  Even if I were to have a way to track and measure this, it is a virtual certainty that I would lose interest and keeping track during an energy lull.  Thus, I can only comment and agree anecdotally on this.  

In the context of the Jefferson quote, luck is an amazing thing.  We can indeed have more of it by working in a more focused and determined way.  

I used to always success is determined by three things: 

1. Working hard
2. A willingness to take risks
3. And some luck.  
 

There are many luck opportunities or events flying by us as we navigate our way through life.  The focus and determination that underlies working hard have make us  more attuned to theses luck events.  Sometimes the luck is in the form of immediate benefits.  This is not usually the case.   At other times. luck is not a windfall but more of an opportunity.  Without the willingness to take a risk, we are oblivious to their presence.   

My thinking the quote came from Edison is not that far off.  Thomas Edison has some things to say on this matter though most of his quotes are focused on work:

• There is no substitute for hard work.
• The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
• Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
• Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
• All quotes are from  brainyquote.com

          Now, if I can only keep the work energy and pace at a high level...