A four-leaf clover among clover leaves

I've had the graphic below in my Google Drive for a while but never quite got around to doing anything with it. At least in part as it doesn't align with my typical technology and information security topics. Anyway, hopefully you feel it's worth sharing, so without further ado: Whilst on holiday in the West Midlands my wife found a four leaf clover and gave it to my son "for luck". Now I'm not in any way superstitious so I don't believe in good luck charms - I do however believe in luck.

There are the parts of luck that you can't control - the chance encounters, fortuitous timing. But then there's all the things you can control that make it more likely you will be exposed to opportunities, and be prepared to respond to them when they arise. That clover got laminated onto a bookmark along with the quote:

"Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation".

I do like a good model (even though all models are wrong) so this got me thinking about how the components of opportunity and preparation could be further broken down. I accept it's a bit cliché but here it is:

Four overlapping circles shaped like a four-leaf clover: knowledge and experience, open-minded and positive, resources and self-awareness, network and explore; the overlaps read grow, preparation, opportunity, discover, with luck at the centre

My view is firmly that we make our own luck, we find opportunities by being open minded and exploring the world around us. We make the most of those opportunities by being prepared with knowledge and experience. To gain knowledge and resources we need self awareness and foresight.

When someone says you're lucky, remember - there's luck that just happens like winning the lottery, being born in a country of opportunity, or having supportive parents. Then there's luck you make for yourself by playing the long game - preparing for, finding, and seizing opportunities.

Best of luck, Andy