A few words about luck

 A few words about luck

Lesson No. 1: Never make your finance director or CFO the MD or president of anything!

Lesson No. 2: Never go on vacation when a deal is going down.

Lesson No. 3: When you change accounting systems (or accountants, for that matter), have the numbers checked over and over again.

Lesson No. 4: Never personally underwrite business loans for your company unless you absolutely, positively, are forced to. Even then, set limits in the agreement so that, as the loan figure is reduced over time, you are released from your undertakings commensurately.

Lesson No. 5: Listen to people who are good with money and always invest in property with a good address - providing you can pay cash for it and will not need to sell it for a few years.

'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.' - Seneca

Luck is preparation multiplied by opportunity.

Preparation is the key. Be prepared. Do the heavy lifting and the homework in advance. Get on with the job, but remain alert enough to spot an opportunity when it arrives. Then hammer it.

If you haven't prepared yourself, the opportunity will go begging. It will be yet another regret in your life, another 'if only ...' And even if you have prepared, but are too busy, probably buried in the minutiae of management, or a messy divorce, or moving house, or a hundred and one other things, then luck will again evade you. Months or years later you will be saying, 'If only I had spotted that opportunity. I was ready for it, but I wasn't paying attention.' 'If only...' are the two saddest words in the English language.

To become rich you must behave as a predator. I will go further, you must become a predator.

Lady Luck doesn't love star-struck suitors like Albert. She wants crazy bastards who will tell her to take a hike or get lost if they feel like it. She won't come calling to anyone who needs her or needs to worship her.

'Fortune favours the brave,' says the old proverb. And that's right enough. But it seems to especially scorn anyone who wants money too badly. And it positively appears to despise men or women who fear to lose what fortune they already have.

My advice concerning luck is to laugh in the face of the Lady when she presents herself. Take what you will of her bounty and act swiftly to take advantage of good fortune. But never thank her for it. And forget her the moment she leaves to seek another victim. In modern, sexist parlance: 'Treat her mean to keep her keen.' Pimp her, don't court her. And don't go looking for her or make enquiries about her.

Prepare yourself for luck, but don't seek her out. Let her come to you.

Make your own luck.

Don't whine or ever describe yourself as 'unlucky'. (You're alive, aren't you?)

Be bold. Be brave. Don't thank your lucky stars. The stars can't hear you.

Stay the course. Stop looking for the green grass over the hill.

Don't try to do it all yourself. Delegate and teach others to delegate.

Remember that most predators are lucky most of their lives, unlike their prey.

Whiners and cowards die a hundred times a day. Be a hero to yourself.

If being a hero isn't your style, then fake it. Reality will catch up eventually.

Just do it. It is much easier to apologise than to obtain permission.

Never take the quest for wealth seriously. It's just a game, chum.

Next time you bump into Lady Luck, giver her a whack on the rump from me.

Be lucky. Get rich. Then give it all away.