Russell Grant Magazine - March 2022 (MARCH622)

ARE YOU BORN LUCKY? Way back in the day world-class golfer Jack Nicklaus was asked how lucky he felt at being so successful. His reply was that the more he practised, the luckier he got! How true is that!

Belief, determination and motivation all feature heavily in successful people's strategies. That, and a commitment to hard work.

Athletes are great examples of people who tenaciously keep on going, refusing to allow a negative outcome to deter their resolve. If you think about a high jumper, they only know they've achieved the limit of their ability when they fail to clear a jump, and fail repeatedly. They keep on trying, believing that they will succeed, until they either clear the height (when they will again raise the bar), or fail and keep on going until they're unable to continue anymore.

Many people say that we create our own luck.

And yes, for some people a positive attitude has been nurtured from childhood, with supportive role models encouraging their confidence and self belief. Some may even be born with a silver spoon in their mouth. But people from tough backgrounds can also appear to be lucky as they power through, determined to achieve their own desired outcomes.

- The way we treat set backs, limitations, other peoples attitudes towards us, are all significant in our approach to success. Some people don't realise they harbour underlying fears, obstacles, limitations or other priorities and modifiers to success. They may feel resentful at their situation or have a sense that there's no point in trying as others are better, more gifted, luckier than they.

In these instances their heart and enthusiasm may not be truly invested in the project or challenge. These are times when therapy can help or they need to stop and ask themselves some questions; how much do I want this, what else matters in my life, is there something I need to deal with first? And for some people the answer may be that they tried, had a go and that is satisfying enough.

- There are people who really enjoy work and working hard. It defines who they are, how they spend their time. They may even have concerns that if they did reach their goals what would they do next. This is an interesting way to hi-jack success. Being a workaholic, defining who you are through your work-related role, may be mean that the journey itself is more important and relevant than any eventual destination and outcome.