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My wife Suzie and I took the grandkids into Belfast on the train recently to watch the St Patrick’s Day parade and join in the craic; we all had a great time. I even had a pint of Guinness 0.0 to comply with my abstinence for Lent. When the barkeep handed my pint over, he uttered the phrase “Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat,” and I responded in kind.
That old Irish phrase roughly translates into English as “may luck rise with you.” It’s a poetic way of wishing someone well — a nice verbal visualisation of luck reaching out to you. But I feel that in life, that’s only half the equation. In the real world, luck usually needs two to tango. You need to be prepared when it shows its face.
I’m sure all of us have known someone who’s had a “lucky break.” Take the friend who bought into the market at exactly the right moment. From the outside it looks random, almost unfair. But look a little closer and you’ll usually find they’d been sitting on a pot of savings for months, maybe years, resisting the urge to spend it, waiting — not for anything specific, just waiting. When the dip came and everyone else was panicking, they were simply ready. That’s not luck in the passive sense. That’s preparedness wearing luck’s coat
The same goes for careers. The person who lands that lucrative new role didn’t just happen to interview well on the day. More often than not they’d been doing the quiet, unglamorous work for years — networking after work rather than heading straight home, putting extra hours in at the office, perhaps those evenings at night school years earlier that suddenly make all the difference when a better position comes up.
Luck might “rise” with you, but if your pockets are empty or you’re weighed down by debt, you can’t exactly reach out and grab it. I’ve seen friends watch a “pot of gold” opportunity float right past them because they weren’t in a position to move. They had the luck, but they didn’t have the bucket to catch it in.
There’s an old idea, Seneca normally gets the credit, that luck is simply what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I think there’s a lot of truth in that. It’s having that bit of money tucked away so you can buy when the market dips, or having the sense to recognise a good deal when the rest of the world is in a panic.
As the festivities in Belfast wind down and the shamrocks are swept away, it’s worth remembering that the best kind of luck isn’t about stumbling upon the end of an Irish rainbow. It’s about making sure you’re the one standing there with a spade in your hand, ready to do the digging.
As the old Irish greeting goes: “may luck rise with you.” But, at the very least, make sure you’re standing ready to meet it halfway.
Guiness 0.0 and lucky breaks in the same article 🤔☘️
I agree, hard work and stepping forward/taking on the challenge when others shy away are two important keys to
success“lucky breaks” along the way the way.There’s something revolutionary about Guinness 0.0. It looks exactly like the real thing, dark, elegant, that perfect creamy head, but nobody hands it to you for nothing. You still have to walk to the bar, order it, and pay for it. Which, when you think about it, is a reasonable metaphor for life…your not going to get anywhere without effort…even if it’s alcohol free 😉
Mark – this is a great post. It’s not just employment or finances. It’s also life in general with social interactions, romance/marriage, friendships, church, and everything else.
I don’t like to soapbox, but I’ll say this — the art of reaching for things, of owning your outcomes and driving your own life forward, seems to be fading. Too many people wait for life to come to them. Entitlement, whether in personal, business or financial life, has never sat well with me, and I don’t think it serves anyone well in the end.
A person I knew worked as a secretary. Her hours were reduced, and she needed to look for a full time job. I explained to her that she may qualify for unemployment comp during her job search. She was able to immediately find full time employment, but delayed starting the job for a month. She quit the old job, and filed for unemployment, hoping to receive a month long paid vacation, courtesy of the state. She told me that she was “entitled” to it. That changed the way I felt about her. Her claim was denied.
Mark – soapbox is OK. Many years ago, I dealt with a messy (on a lot of levels) divorce. Several sets of friends were there for me in many ways. I told one couple years later how much I appreciated their support, and how much it helped me recover. They said that it was obvious that I was working to get better – in your words “driving life forward”. I’ve seen that in one of my kids. I’m hoping the other one responds similarly to his own current life challenges.
One of my favorite Jimmy Buffett-isms, “yesterday is over my shoulder, so I can’t look back for too long…”
Mark – Loved the post. “Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat,”
Right back at you. Keep those posts coming, I enjoy your voice.
People who become an ‘overnight success’ can usually write volumes on their efforts to become one.
Just like a swan, elegant and graceful on the surface, nobody notices the frantic paddling beneath the water. Success can appear effortless, even inevitable, until you look below the waterline and see the relentless effort keeping it all afloat.
Totally agree with this philosophy. In addition, my late father often said, “the harder I work, the luckier I get”.
I feel your father’s saying is a down-to-earth encapsulation of two thousand years of common sense wisdom, proof that the deepest truths rarely need dressing up in fancy clothing.
“When the dip came and everyone else was panicking, they were simply ready.”
I like to follow the Buffet plan, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
To my mind, Buffett is a modern-day embodiment of Seneca’s Stoic philosophy in action. Separated by 2,000 years of history, Seneca’s voice echoes through time into the present-day world of personal finance. Nowhere is this more striking than in the parallel between their two most enduring ideas. When Buffett urges us to be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful, he is essentially restating Seneca’s conviction that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Both men are saying the same thing: while the crowd reacts with emotion, the disciplined mind stays ready, and in that readiness, finds its advantage.