Self-Improvement Improves Your Luck
How To Become L.U.C.K.Y.
My sojourn on planet earth has spanned a little over three decades, and never have I met a person who did not want to have or become lucky - never! From young to old we all want to experience luck in all we do. Whether it's in our exams, on our jobs or in business, luck is what everyone desires as it is bound to, in one way or another, better our lots when it does happen.
Now, there's nothing wrong with desiring or actually experiencing luck - absolutely nothing!
But do you know that being lucky is not a matter of chance, neither is it by accident? In other words, I am saying that you can create your own luck by simply knowing what to do. Did I hear you say how can you do that? Relax. That is what this piece you are reading is meant to reveal to you. So read on.
"When opportunity meets preparation, luck is inevitable." - Anonymous
L - Learning
"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday." - Abraham Lincoln
The bane that has brought pain to this generation is our lack interest and discipline to sit down and learn.
Matthew Ashimolowo, who is a master in the field of motivational speaking (although a pastor), posed that, "It is your learning and not your yearning that will increase you earning." To rephrase, I will say that if you are not ready to learn then you are not ready to earn.
When was the last time you visited a bookshop? When was the last time you read a book through? Better still (or should I say worse still?), when was the last time you did something deliberately to develop yourself? You can quote me anywhere that if all you know today are the same things you knew yesterday, then you are not qualified to be alive today. Never forget that the day you stop learning is the day you start dyeing. According to Henry Ford, "Anyone who stops learning is old, either at twenty or at eighty."
U - Understanding
"What you stand under determines what will stand under you." - Abiodun Mabadeje
Understanding simply means what you are 'standing under.' If I may ask you, what are you standing under? What is your philosophy of life? What is your thought pattern like?
Remember that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. It is your thinking that sets the limits and boundaries of your life. Bishop David Oyedepo said, "The day you stop thinking is the day you start sinking" and a step further is what Matthew Ashimolowo said, "Stinking thinking makes you stink." Meaning that if your thinking is wrong, your outcome in life will also be wrong. Remember the computer language, GIGO? - Garbage in garbage out.
C - Competence
"Competence gives confidence." - Abiodun Mabadeje
Competence connotes specialty; developed ability - skill.
It is your competence that determines your identity. In other words you will have no identity until you are competent at something. This is the idea.
When you mention Michael Jordan, you say Basketball. When you mention Jay Jay Okocha, you say Football. When you mention Mike Tyson, you say Boxing. When you mention Bill Gates, you say Microsoft. When you mention Richard Branson, you say Virgin conglomerate. When you mention my own name, Abiodun Mabadeje, you say motivation (both as speaker and writer).
The question I have for you is this, when we mention your own name, what do we say? Food for thought!
K - Knot (networking)
John C. Maxwell, an established American author, motivational speaker and pastor has said time and again that "People are everything." No tree makes a forest. No island exists without the surrounding water. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" but where there are no people visions stagnate.
You need to tie the knot of relationships. Do not take people for granted. Associate with those who know more than you, those you can tap from their wealth of knowledge, experience, resources and expertise (most of the time the word mentor is used to describe such people). As a result of this association, you can reach where they are faster by avoiding the pitfalls they encountered while climbing up the ladder of success.
You also need to develop relationships with your contemporaries and even those below you. Don't forget that life is dynamic; hence you never can tell when and where you will need them too. You are not to ignore people or belittle people for whatever reason either for 'stature' or 'status.' "Those you ignore while going up, you will meet while coming down."
Y - Yield
In every worthwhile success story, there's always a place of/for God. To this extent, you need to allow God a place in your journey and life endeavours. Like someone rightly observed, "Your efficiency without His sufficiency will lead to your deficiency."
Surrender to Him; partner with Him and see Him direct you. It is so important that you yield (surrender) to Him so that you can yield (be fruitful) in life.
A very good friend of mine, Tosin Ojuri in one of his songs describes God as "The definition of everything that is beautiful."
If you want your life to be beautiful and you really want to be successful (or L.U.C.K.Y. in this context), then you must yield to God, for until you discover your source you cannot discover yourself.
"Always let Him lead you, and He will clear the road for you to follow." - Pro. 3:6 (Contemporary English Version)
Copyright © 2008 Abiodun Mabadeje
Abiodun Mabadeje is a a public/motivational speaker, an author of seven books and several articles. A student member of IIGL, International Institute for Global Leadership and a graduate of Daystar Leadership Academy - DLA, in Lagos, Nigeria. Founder of an NGO called Total Empowerment Against Mediocrity - T.E.A.M.