Do you believe in luck?
Do you believe in luck making a difference in your life and your small business? I have always believed it’s not luck but good management that makes people and organisations successful. I am careful not to say “good luck” before a major activity – because if you are prepared enough you should not need it!
Last week I had the pleasure of being the MCee at The Future’s So Bright Conference put together by the City of Boroondara with the support of Business Vic.
The conference featured a keynote by Simon Griffiths of Who Gives A Crap and Gus Balbontin motivational speaker and current instigator of the Unrealistic Foundation. I also interviewed, Oprah style, the unflappable Tayla Harris AFLW star and Australian champion boxer.
The three speakers could not have been more different in their approaches to life and work yet each of them delivered inspiration and ideas to the 100 young people in the audience who were enthralled by their stories and their advice. The audience also absolutely delighted in the opportunity to spend time with each of the speakers who stayed to chat with the audience and have the inevitable selfie (like me!).
There were so many lessons from the day, but for me these were the most memorable.
Attitude towards luck
Simon Griffiths’s approach was: “you get lucky by working hard”. He encouraged us to take risks, accept failure, but never let anything get in the way of making your dreams happen.
“Start with what you are the most passionate about and what motivates you, and figure out how to make that your career. Then you’ll want to get out of bed feeling great every day.” Simon Griffiths.
Tayla Harris does not believe in luck or in looking backwards. To her, if you want something you work hard to get it – if it doesn’t happen – move on. Her refreshing approach to the challenges she has been confronted with was breathtaking while being so straightforward.
Interestingly when I told a friend I was interviewing Tayla Harris and we would be talking about ‘the kick’ he said – “lucky it happened to Tayla”. If it happened to someone else they might not have had the strength or self esteem to cope. Upon meeting her I had to agree. She is a force of light and grace and determination.
Gus Balbontin considers himself lucky – lucky to be born with FOMO and a determination to change his luck after being born in Patagonia, one of the poorest parts of the world, whose population tends to create generation after generation of sameness.
He compelled us to take being born into the luckiest country in the world and not blow it! As he put it – we are already way ahead of everybody else in the world in being able to achieve greatness – so no excuses not to be who you want to be.
He told us to be curious
“If you are curious your brain will reward you with ideas” Gus Balbontin
Create your own success matrix
Simon talked about failure and the importance of failure for future success. The key to coming back from failure was to surround yourself with positive people and to also support the people around you when they have failed. He also talked about the challenges of success due to the toilet paper fiasco of 2020 and how systems and data can be vital to getting stock moving. They had to invent new success matrices.
Tayla talked about her method approach to boxing after being reprimanded when she first tried to help her opponent up when knocking her out! She talked about discipline and taking responsibility for your actions.
“If I see someone suffering or needing help, I’m already doing something before my brain even knows it, that’s something I always have done and always will do. It’s non-negotiable for me.” Tayla Harris
All of them encouraged us how important it is to create your own ‘success metric’ and not get caught in the trap of habit or momentum so that you can quickly reinvent yourself and innovate to adapt to future realities. Don’t believe in or rely on luck – but take it graciously when you get it.