A couple of years ago, I was traveling to Ireland, and my niece asked me to bring her a leprechaun. When I asked why she wanted one, she said matter-of-factly, “Because I want his pot of gold.”
WhenĀ I explained that leprechauns are known for being tricky and hard to catch, she suggested IĀ trap him with some of my own gold, since he’d probably want more! Good thinking!Ā It’s the kind of logic that only makes sense when you’re young, and you donāt see all the obstacles (like how I would get my own gold!).Ā Ā When we’re young, luck feels magical, just likeĀ something hidden at the end of the rainbow, waiting to be found. Something that belongs to someone else until, somehow, it becomes ours.
Every March, Saint Patrick’s Day brings that feeling back. Green shirts (and beer)Ā appear everywhere, parades fill city streets, along with sightings of four-leaf clovers and pots of gold. And everyone remembers thatĀ familiar phrase: the luck of the Irish. For a day, millions of people become honorary Irish, and everyone wants a little luck. It’s a reminder of something simple about human nature: people enjoy belonging and imagining.Ā Even if it’s temporary. Even if it’s just for a day.Ā
As we get older, luck starts to look a little different.
There’s a quote often attributed to Gary Player that I’ve always liked: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.ā
Golf is a good place to see this play out with shots taken working out perfectly, despite the odds.Ā From the outside, it looks like luck. But players who practice more tend to create more of those moments, not because the universe favors them, but because preparation quietly increases the chances that something good can happen.
The same is true in business and in life. We call people lucky when the right introduction comes at the right time, when the timing works out, when the deal comes together. But zoom in, and those moments almost always sit on top of years of quiet work, slowly building relationships and sharpening skills. A reputation is earned one interaction at a time.Ā The “lucky” break tends to find people who were already in motion, putting in the work.
Those small efforts compound. And what looks like luck from the outside starts to look a lot more like momentum from the inside.
The holiday may be behind us, but the idea is worth holding onto. Everyone wants a little luck. But the luckiest people are usually just the ones who stayed in the game long enough for it to find them.
If you look back at where luck has shown up in your own life, you might find it was never random; it was quietly building all along. And if someone in your life could use that reminder, this might be worth passing along.
āIām a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.ā – Thomas Jefferson
Sometimes luck is just hard work wearing a green shirt.Ā š
Have a lucky weekend.
-Vijay