To hell with luck

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.

Stop operating from the assumptions of your past self, and start finding new and unique pathways. Find the people and pathways to get where you’re trying to go.

You can choose the vision you’re looking for. You can choose the standard.

Do your part of the work, or you cannot succeed. Muhammad, one night, while encamping in the desert, overheard one of his fatigued followers remark: “I will loose my camel, and trust it to God!” “No, no, not so,” said the prophet, “tie thy camel, and trust it to God!” Do all you can for yourselves, and then trust to Providence, or luck, or whatever

but ultimately Streisand's resolve won out. "I became what I wanted to be ... I don't want somebody telling me what I can't be," she told me.

“I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.” - Charles Kettering

Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts.

The amount of serendipity that will occur in your life, your Luck Surface Area, is directly proportional to the degree to which you do something you’re passionate about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated. It’s a simple concept, but an extremely powerful one because what it implies is that you can direc

‘I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”’

How can we increase the odds of finding luck? By being a person who works in public. By doing work and being public about it, you build a reputation for yourself. You build a track record. You build a public body of work that speaks on your behalf better than any resume ever could.