Seneca the Younger said more than 2,000 years ago: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
I have kept coming back to this statement throughout my career – in my eyes; it is one of the most profound insights on how to be successful (whatever success looks or means for you).
It starts out with the notion that you need to prepare yourself to be lucky; or as others would say: You have to do the hard work. There are no workarounds or shortcuts.
Moreover, once you have prepared yourself sufficiently, you need to put yourself out there. Opportunities arise from being in the field, not behind a desk.
Bring these two things together and what others describe as luck will become not only more likely but nearly inevitable.
Unfortunately, there are too many folks out there who still believe that there is a shortcut.