There’s several things I love about St. Patrick’s Day.
- I love a theme. Themes unit us and build community. Figuring out who else is participating in a theme is a great filter to finding my people.
- I grew up in NH. My mom’s from Scranton, PA. We’re not known for our high regard for culture. So having a holiday dedicated to the fun in my family? Sure, I’ll participate!
- It’s also a low participation holiday. Like. No guilt if there’s no partipcation. Although the tide did turn during my kids’ preschool days and suddenly leprechaun traps became a thing. This almost turned into an Elf on the Shelf opportunity/stress but I guess marketing a sneaky little man coming into your house to cause chaos is less appealing.
- My kids and their Japanese last name are technically more Irish than Asian. It’s a fun little plot twist no one sees coming. Except for the fact I remind everyone one day a year.
It’s also fun to have a day dedicated to luck. Drink too much? Getting lucky?
No. I’m talking about the luck in life. Do I feel lucky to be Irish? Sure do! Would I have during a famine? Not so much. Perspective becomes everything.
As I’ve said before Guy Raz’s podcast on entrepreneurship “How I Built This” is one of my favorites. He ends each interview with the question, “How much of you success do you attribute to luck, and how much to hard work?”
The answers vary and most are clever enough to balance it between humbleness and dedication.
At the root of answering this for ourselves is accepting what we can control… and what we can’t.
We naturally classify things we can’t control under Good Luck or Bad Luck. From there we can only control our reactions. Seems basic.
Then there’s the Oprah approach. If I recall correctly, she once talked about being *ready* for the opportunity. It’s about the hard work before the luck hits equates to success.
What if we start to tailor the hard work for that preparation? It might look like familiar steps we’re already taking, yet more intentional.
- The weekly work outs for the big endurance race.
- The desensitizing to failure, so you build resilience.
- The writing of a blog whether anyone would read it or not.
- The talking to someone in line, to feel less shy.
- Having your resume updated for the time your dream job comes around.
- Sending thank you letters often so stay connected.
There are plenty of ways privilege plays into luck. Privilege is placement with less barriers and there’s no level of hard work that overcomes many factors.
Luck is all around us. And so is strategy and intention so we can capitalize on the good around us more often.
“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night”
– Irish Blessing
