Is luck given or made?

I know a guy, who is now retired, who told me the secret to getting ahead was to hustle. Not swindle, but work hard and make your own luck.

That tiny bit of advice stuck with me. Make your own luck.

What does that even mean?

To me, you gotta hustle and volunteer for everything. Don’t say no, say yes.

I jumped at a few opportunities in the Corps, lots of personal growth came from it. I also learned how ships get gas when they are in the absolute middle of the ocean.

I think I was the only person who applied for the job I have now. Work in the summers and get paid the exact same amount? Sign me up!

Last year I had been out of the classroom for ten years. Ten years is a very long time. A mentor talked me into co-teaching a class on literacy. I was waaaaayyyyy outside my comfort zone. I’m pretty sure I did a terrible job but it opened me up to many new ideas and possibilities.

Make your own luck.

I think every PD or learning opportunity has the potential to open new thinking pathways. Those new ideas lead to new opportunities. New opportunities might be seen by some as luck, but really I think luck is the result of hard work. Hard work and taking risks. Sometimes that results in not executing things well but learning something in the process is a huge reward.

Action Steps

• There is a brand new elementary in town. Their approach to learning is nothing like anything else here, I’m going to visit. In April.
• I’m overwhelmed all the time. There are counterparts in the neighboring districts that I’m sure face the exact same issues. I’m reaching out to them. Going to visit in April. Maybe I can learn a new idea that will help me.
• Asking for money to bring in an expert about design. We have a lot of people working on alternative seating in the classroom but I’m not sure we know why we are doing it.
• Writing a grant. There are things we need to do and I can’t wait.

Some of the above will fail. I’m sure of it. I bet I will learn more in my failures than if I just let time go by without doing something about it. Sometimes what I try does not go very well, but I learned. I’d rather learn that way then just stand by wondering and thinking about it.