Latest news with #luck
Globe and Mail
23-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Globe and Mail
How to throw a little luck into your career
Interested in more careers-related content? Check out our new weekly Work Life newsletter. Sent every Monday afternoon. Who wouldn't want a little luck thrown their way for their career and life? What if you could create some of your own luck? I believe you can. There's a quote I've always loved and have made it one of my mantras: 'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.' Some attribute this quote to Seneca, the Roman philosopher, but the origins are often debated. In more modern days, it has also been attributed to Oprah Winfrey. Well before I even knew of Oprah, I'd seen this quote. In my 20s I was trying to figure out my career path and was at a crossroads. Something about this quote buoyed my spirits and even my sense of hope. I was always preparing but sometimes I didn't know exactly what for. This quote said to me it is okay to not yet know. Prepare and when the opportunity strikes, you will see it, be ready and go for it. Create your own luck by being prepared and keeping your eyes wide open. Some people may think this luck notion is malarkey. Isn't luck random, happenstance? And how can you prepare and create luck when you don't even know what 'opportunity' you are aiming for? What if you don't know what kind of job you want? Career path still confusing? Your next step? Or you are already perfectly happy where you are? Isn't preparing in advance like shooting darts to – nowhere? Not quite. In fact, with so much uncertainty in our economy and many people feeling anxious about not knowing what is coming next, there are many ways to prepare and be ready for a lucky break to appear or to create it. Consider these hypothetical scenarios. Giorge gets a random call from a recruiter for a leadership role that he hadn't applied for but sounded interesting enough to explore further. But he's worried about how to pull his act together on such short notice. It's been ages since he's interviewed or updated his resume and he is wondering if he is prepared enough to effectively tell his story and compete with the other candidates. Francois gets the same call and while he too didn't know about the role, he's been keeping his resume updated and made sure to regularly reflect on his strengths and accomplishments because you never know when you'll need to speak about them. He ends up acing the interviews and gets the job. What a lucky break that the recruiter called (and he was ready). Zahra is ready for a change and sees a job ad with a company she has long admired. There are likely hundreds of applicants. But lucky for her she has been actively networking – just to keep current and connected, even before she was looking for a new role. It turns out one of her new acquaintances works at that company and was able to help Zahra get her resume seen. And with a good word put in, Zahra got the interview, nailed it and landed the job. What luck (that she's been networking and found someone to help). Layla's current job doesn't call for AI skills. But she knows it is coming so she takes a couple of courses. Not long after, her employer restructures and shifts focus to – you guessed it – use more AI. Layla gets to stay while others in her team were unfortunately let go. Lucky Layla (good thing she had the foresight and curiosity to learn some new AI skills). While there's no guarantee that one's preparation will garner the win or bring luck, these few examples point to how luck can happen when preparation meets opportunity. There's lots of uncertainty these days but you may have more control over your destiny than you think. Here are a few ideas on how to prepare for those yet unseen lucky breaks that either come your way – or that you create. Foster the Boy/Girl Scouts mindset of 'always being prepared': Reflect on what this means for you in your career – be it resume updates, new skills or networking. Don't wait for the opportunity to present itself and then prepare. Prepare now and always. Funny how opportunities show up once you start to kick up some dust. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Learn, grow, be curious – and awake: Don't get too comfy in your current role/sector. Be someone who reads, stays up to date and is always curious beyond their current task/job description. Even if you are not looking for a job, stay awake to where the job market is headed – and stay alert for luck that may come your way, even if disguised as a challenge. Connect, connect, connect: No matter how skilled you are or impressive your resume is, you must nurture connections with others. If you are uncomfortable with 'networking', reframe it as connection. Remember, it's often people who can introduce you to hidden opportunities beyond those listed. And do remember to reciprocate and offer help to others as well. Stay in possibility: Lean in and take actions to do what you can – even in uncertain and ambiguous times. This will elevate your own sense of trust and confidence. I have a colleague who often says, 'Do something, and something will happen.' I love that. It gives me hope that I can generate some of my own luck. How about you? Eileen Chadnick, PCC, of Big Cheese Coaching, is an ICF credentialed, two-time ICF (International Coaching Federation) Prism award winner, who works with leaders (emerging to experienced), and organizations, on navigating, leading and flourishing in times of flux, opportunity and challenge. She is the author of Ease: Manage Overwhelm in Times of Crazy Busy.
CTV News
22-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Newmarket Ont. man wins $65 million jackpot
One Newmarket Ont., man is waking up $65 million richer after winning the March Lotto Max jackpot.
Wall Street Journal
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Barry Diller on Serendipity, Sexuality and Success
Success, they say, is inspiration plus perspiration. But what of sheer universe-vibration? We ask the most successful people we know to tell us what role luck plays in one's career. ICONOCLASTS DON'T waste their time or ours. We know entertainment mogul Barry Diller bested most of his rivals, although a few—notably Sumner Redstone—outmaneuvered him. So when Diller takes his gloves off in his new memoir, he confronts what we couldn't see. His backstage positioning to chomp entire companies whole; the contrast between working for someone else versus for himself; and, on a personal level, his demons. Case in point, Diller on his attraction to men: 'I had wanted so desperately to alter my sexuality as a child and teenager and I had tried so hard and failed. I was left with an unquenchable need to be vigilant about every other aspect of my life.' On his much gossiped-about relationship with his now-wife, Diane von Furstenberg: 'We aren't just friends. Plain and simple, it was an explosion of passion that kept up for years.'
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
RUTH SUNDERLAND: If Donald Trump took a leaf out of Warren Buffett's book the world would be a better place
My colleague Alex Brummer has written ruefully about how he missed out on millions of pounds by spurning advice to invest with Warren Buffett in the 1980s. His decision not to buy shares in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate was perfectly reasonable at the time. It's just bad luck he is not now luxuriating on his yacht – though if he were, his readers and colleagues would have missed out. His story shows the importance of luck in our lives – an element that, in developed, rich societies like ours, we often underestimate. We prefer to credit our successes to our own abilities and to blame ourselves or others for failures. Admitting the role played by luck and that we have less control over outcomes than we like to imagine, brings realism, and modesty. These are undervalued assets in business, investment and politics. But a healthy level of humility is one of the qualities that made Buffett the greatest ever money manager. Much has been written about his investment philosophy in the days since he announced he is stepping down as chief executive. Less has been said about the idea of the 'Ovarian Lottery' that, according to his official biographer Alice Schroeder, shapes his views on life. The thesis is: imagine you are about to be born 24 hours from now. A genie has given you the power to write the economic rules of the society you are about to enter. There's a catch. You're not being born into your current life. Instead, your life will be allocated by drawing a lottery ball out of a barrel containing 8bn of them, one for every person on the planet. Therefore, you don't know whether you will be born male or female, healthy or sick, a genius or a fool. You might come into the world as the son of rich American parents, or a girl in a village in Afghanistan. So what kind of society do you create, given there is a far greater chance you will be a loser than a winner in the great Ovarian Lottery? Buffett is frank about the part that luck has played in his success. At the time of his birth, the odds were 30-to-1 against being born in the United States. He was fortunate again in being born a white male, and with a brain wired to make him a great investor. That talent is very highly prized and rewarded in our society, but it is not universally valued. As fellow billionaire Bill Gates says, if he and his friend Buffett had been born three million years ago, their investment skills would have been worthless. Bespectacled and lacking athleticism, they can't run fast or climb trees. They would not have ended up rich, but as an animal's lunch. Buffett's ideal is a society where those blessed with luck in the gene pool draw are free to succeed and where they help, rather than punish, the less fortunate. This worldview is very different from Donald Trump's boastful and transactional universe, where 'winners' take all and 'losers' are trampled. Trump does not acknowledge his great good luck at being loaned $1m by his father to set up in business and appears to see the presidency as his by right. The aggression he shows to other countries through his tariff policy is anathema to Buffett, who believes that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, the richer and safer Americans will be. If only the reckless occupant of the White House would listen to the Sage of Omaha.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
$100,000 lottery win ends man's years-long bad luck streak
CLIVE, Iowa — After several years of bad luck, a western Iowa man declares the streak is ended due to a $100,000 Iowa Lottery win. 66-year-old Bret Chickering says he has had a rough few years. 'I went through cancer, I'm three years cancer-free now,' he told the Iowa Lottery. 'I fell a year or so ago and broke my hip, had a hip replacement. And the radiation from cancer took all my teeth, and that cost me a lot.' New 'Highway Helper' at Sioux City to provide help to stranded motorists Chickering says this win took him totally by surprise, but it's hopefully the start of a new, and luckier, chapter. 'It did, which usually doesn't happen. I don't usually have that good of luck!' Chickering said. 'This helps a lot.' Chickering doesn't have any special plans for his winnings, he's going to save most of the money and continue his job at a manufacturing facility. The winning ticket was a '20X' scratch ticket purchased at the Harlan Hy-Vee, 2003 Chatburn Avenue. 20X is a $10 scratch game that features seven top prizes of $100,000 and overall odds of 1 in 3.15. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
