“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity”. This quote, attributed to Roman philosopher Seneca, reminds us that we make our own luck. The difference between lucky and unlucky people is all in our perspective.

Luck isn’t just about being at the right place at the right time, but also about being open to and ready for new opportunities. As Richard Wiseman’s ten-year study has shown:

Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Landing a DBA job out of university I frequently remind myself “Boy am I lucky!!!”. But when I reflect back upon my own experiences, I remember how I attended those postgraduate database classes, how I was like a sponge soaking up everything possible. Over time I would get involved in the database community, read forums, contribute, etc. It got to the point where I visualising myself as a DBA. Fast forward a few months after graduation and along comes the opportunity – a Graduate DBA position.

Sometimes you make your own luck.