W

May 24th

MAKING  YOUR    OWN GOOD    FORTUNE

“You    say,    good    fortune used    to  meet    you at  every   corner. But the fortunate   person  is  the one who

gives   themselves  a   good    fortune.    And good    fortunes    are a   well-tuned  soul,   good    impulses    and

good    actions.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS,   MEDITATIONS,    5.36

hat is the more productive notion of good luck? One that is defined by totally random factors
outside your control, or a matter of probability that can be increased—though not guaranteed—by
the right decisions and the right preparation? Obviously, the latter. This is why successful yet mysteriously
“lucky” people seem to gravitate toward it.
According to the wonderful site Quote Investigator, versions of this idea date back at least to the
sixteenth century in the proverb “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” In the 1920s, Coleman Cox put a
modern spin on it by saying, “I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to
have.” (That saying has been incorrectly attributed to Thomas Jefferson, who said nothing of the kind.)
Today, we say, “Luck is where hard work meets opportunity.” Or is it typically flipped?
Today, you can hope that good fortune and good luck magically come your way. Or you can prepare
yourself to get lucky by focusing on doing the right thing at the right time—and, ironically, render luck
mostly unnecessary in the process.