Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good or there because they’re lucky.
—Katharine Hepburn
Or in business! Dreams of failing miserably and humorously, like the dream of giving a speech naked or arriving at final exams without knowing the classwork, are so common for a reason. It seems many of us are worried that one day we’ll be discovered for being talentless no-accounts who’ve had our success handed to us, rather than earning it.
But I think the answer is you’re good.
I’ll tell you why: luck, which I do think exists (scientists among you may cringe), is what you make of it.
There have been lucky events in my life that I’ve misread, or bungled.
There have been unlucky times when I’ve worked my butt off to great effect.
And yes, there have been times when I sat down in a pile of luck and made it work, too. The truth is luck’s mighty hard to spot until after it’s passed. When you’re in the moment, every moment is what you make of it. It’s not just being involved in your art or your business that makes you wonder whether you’re good or lucky—it’s being known and recognized as someone who’s “made it.”
Nobody ever had a guilty dream about being lucky and utterly unknown.
I’m not saying that there aren’t lots of other folks besides you who “deserved” to make it, yet somehow didn’t.
I’m saying if you’ve made it, I think you can relax. You’re being recognized because you’re good. You took whatever luck you were handed, and you made something of it.
Like The Great Kate, you’re there because you’re good.
What do you think? Is luck what you make of it, or is luck what makes the so-so dudes at the top look like shining stars?
Do you ever dream that you’ll be found out for being no more than a lucky dog?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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2 December 2009, 5:56 am
I wonder what the person I interviewed for today’s post (go see! http://bit.ly/4WJFs3) would say about luck.
I think you need talent, guts, perseverance and willpower. And I think you uncover your own “luck” along the way.
“Wow, so and so emailed me – can you believe that? Damn, that’s lucky!”
No, that’s because you worked to position yourself and actually got noticed.
Or good timing? “This is perfect! I was just about to… and then THIS comes along… Frig, that’s what I call luck!”
No, that’s what I call – again – having worked to make things happen. And they just happen to happen at an advantageous time.
Do I think I’m lucky to be where I am today? Damned straight. It could’ve been anyone. Do I think luck got me there? Truthfully, I think there’s some luck involved.
But I like to think that luck and me, we’re hand in hand.
James Chartrand – Men with Pens´s latest blog… Which Person Would You Talk To?
2 December 2009, 7:28 am
James,
“It’s on its way,” I always say—if you go out, get your It, and drag It back and make It yours.
Fate and fatalism are not the same thing, eh?
(What a fine interview. There’s a dude who took the luck he was handed and made something of it.)
Regards,
Kelly
2 December 2009, 8:45 am
I believe luck is what you make of it, but it is also relative.
Those of us who live in (say) Canada or the USA are “luckier” by way of geographic birth than those who live in (say) Darfur.
Probably anyone who lives in a place like Darfur would be quite happy to be here.
So in that regard, we are “luckier” than they are, yet many of us choose simply to exist and do nothing with our good fate.
This doesn’t mean that the next Bill Gates won’t come from Darfur.
But it is more likely that he or she will come from a wealthy family, who can give him or her all of the best, send him or her to the right schools etc.
I have no doubt that if I work very hard, I can achieve pretty much anything.
I also know that if a bag containing $10M in unmarked bills fell off a truck in my front yard today, I’d be able to achieve pretty much anything a lot faster
Brett Legree´s latest blog… 6 weeks 2 days.
2 December 2009, 8:56 am
Brett,
Hello, my friend!
Great observations, and a hearty laugh at the end. Me, too! That last bit reminds me of Dorothy Parker, who once said, “I don’t know anything about being a millionaire but I bet I’d be darling at it.”
The Kid and I were talking about luck recently, and Gates and Donald Trump were in the conversation. I think it’s going to be a lot harder for their kids to make the most of their own luck than it was for them, in a way, because with so many bright shinies around it’s difficult and not too necessary to learn to bust your hump when luck comes calling.
So wealthy, compared to Darfur, sure, but I think maybe having to scrounge for your success at the start (as those two did) is actually a good thing.
But you’ve done your scrounging as have I. The unmarked bills can fall at any time. We’ll know how to make the most of our luck, hehe.
Until later,
Kelly
2 December 2009, 11:51 am
I know a little bit about art, to know that success is not always correlated to talent.
We might be good…true enough. But let’s not fool ourselves. There are LOTS of people who are really good. Some probably even better than us.
Talent will get you so far…after that, it’s WHO you know, and horseshoe luck. The former, you can control. The latter, you can’t.
Like that artist who sold “Voice of Fire” in the Canadian National Art Gallery for several miillion. It’s just a few stripes, for Chrissakes. Any idiot could have done that..but THEY were the ones who managed to convince the curator to buy their work. Good for them (even though it’s a piece of crap).
Or sometimes it’s circumstances beyond your control. A lucky (or unlucky) break can make all the difference.
Buddy Ebsen was originally going to be the Tin Man on the Wizard of Oz. But he was allergic to the metal powder makeup…and got seriously ill. So he missed out on a role that could have possibly launched a serious film career (as opposed to getting typecast as Jed Clampett).
Not that he didn’t succeed as a TV star. But think of how different his career might have been…and it wasn’t his fault.
2 December 2009, 1:00 pm
Friar,
We agree. As I said there are plenty of folks who don’t make it who have what appear to be the raw talents they needed. I do think luck plays a part in success.
Knowing there are more folks who are “good” than just those who make it, doesn’t mean those who do make it are just lucky, though. Lucky, tough, and good, most of the time. And sure. Maybe even a bit shrewd. No harm in that!
I’m thinking the Tin Man didn’t do a heck of a lot for Jack Haley’s career, eh?—so maybe Ebsen’s the one who got the luck after all.
Later,
Kelly
P.S. LOL. You have accidentally insulted my favorite artist in the entire universe, Barnett Newman, whose every painting is (to me) touched by the hand of [insert your favorite higher power here]. I could sit in front of Voice of Fire or any other work of his for days and contemplate the vastness of it, and if that truck of Brett’s misses and wanders south of Philadelphia, the only self-indulgent thing I’d wish to do with the money would be to own just one of his paintings.
Someday you and I will have to sit down with a beer and duke this out!
2 December 2009, 1:09 pm
@Kelly
I’m not insulting the artist. Hey, if he can convince people to pay millions for a design that any custom auto-body shop can come up with, hey great. More power to you…you’ve done your homework in marketing and selling yourself, you’ve earned it.
It’s the people who are willing to pay $1.8 million for it, that I have issues with. Especially when it comes out of my taxpayer’s money.
PS. How does one contemplate the “vastness” of three stripes?
Tell you what…I’ll hand a very large flag of France or Italy, and you can get the same effect.
Friar´s latest blog… Hit-and-Miss Painting
2 December 2009, 1:23 pm
Friar,
He’s quite dead. He can handle the insult.
Meet me for the beer (make it a Guinness, and bring an Irish flag, k?) and I’ll wax on about Barnett Newman for an hour. Seriously. Don’t get me started on his heart-stopping amazingness. Bloody brilliant.
Later,
Kelly
2 December 2009, 1:55 pm
I agree….it stops my heart, and makes me feel a pit in the bottom of my stomach, when I think we taxpayers shelled out almost $2 million…
…for THREE STINKING STRIPES.
Okay..getting in the car now, with a case of Guiness. (See you in 14 hours).
Friar´s latest blog… Hit-and-Miss Painting
2 December 2009, 2:33 pm
Meet me on the art museum steps. After we’ve split the case of Guinness (80/20, I hope, for my sake), we’ll go sit in front of Philly’s Barnett Newman, where I’ve spent many a happy moment, and I’ll ‘splain it all to you.
2 December 2009, 3:19 pm
You know what’s interesting about Gates and Trump, is that *their* folks were well connected (and at least in Trump’s case) pretty well off. I do believe that both of them went to private or exclusive schools.
But obviously hard work wasn’t lost on them, and they weren’t afraid to take risks.
I wonder if they’ve passed this on to their children.
Brett Legree´s latest blog… 6 weeks 2 days.
2 December 2009, 3:57 pm
Read “The Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. I haven’t yet, but it will be in my next book order. Talks all about “the right person at the right time” (so I hear) featuring everyman Bill Gates — at least partially.
~Graham
PS – If you’re planning to survive a case of Guinness, you’ll have to be both good AND lucky…
2 December 2009, 3:59 pm
Brett,
I had to take a trip to Wikipedia. I knew Trump’s father was in real estate, but I didn’t know Gates’ father was an attorney. Certainly neither of them were poverty-stricken, but it has got to be a bit different for their kids, lol.
(I don’t think private school necessarily means “rich” here in the States, though of course some are for the well-off…. I also went to private school up to a point. I love ‘em dearly and they’re rich in spirit, but my parents weren’t well-to-do.
It was so we’d know all about [my family's favorite higher power] — and to keep us out of the local schools.)
Wondering about their kids came up because of (Trump’s daughter) Ivanka’s new book… a person of her age has usually got to be breakthrough-genius in their writing, and even then it’s not likely to be enough, as my Kid was saying, but I have a feeling that for her it was just a matter of waiting until she had something to say. There were probably a few publishers tripping over themselves to find someone to help her say it.
Ah, luck. Hope she’s got the goods to sustain it!
Later,
Kelly
2 December 2009, 3:59 pm
PPS – just remembered that Bill Gates was on CNN with Warren Buffet, and he said that luck played a big role in who he is today. If he hadn’t been who he was with the same interests etc. at EXACTLY the moment the microprocessor came into existence, he wouldn’t be, well Bill Gates.
If that doesn’t say it all…
~G
2 December 2009, 5:06 pm
Graham,
I think Warren Buffett calls it something like winning the womb lottery. Being born in the right place, particularly, and also the right time.
No matter how much luck, I’d like to think neither Warren nor Bill suffers from a lot of “am I good enough” anxiety. But we mere mortals seems to suffer from it quite a lot.
On surviving the case: my Irish genes take me a little ways in that regard. And practice does make perfect. But mostly I’d be relying on that 80/20 rule… Make sure Kelly only has to survive 20% of it, lol, and get Friar a designated driver. After all, he’s got to survive my waxing lyrical about Barnett Newman.