The turn of the year always forces me to sit down and take stock of where I am and what I want to accomplish in the new year. And as I get older ‘living a fulfilled life’ is something that is usually at the forefront of my thoughts, especially in terms of my career. Living a fulfilled life to me means being satisfied and happy because I am developing my abilities and character to the best that they could be.
Being able to do this requires me to sit, think and plan about what I want in life, what I am good at (my abilities), what I enjoy, and how to make a living out of those. Achieving this to me is success.
There is no exact formula to success but I want to share my formula – a formula I derived from two quotes that I embrace.
The first one is from Frank Underwood, the character played by Kevin Spacey in House of Cards. House of Cards, especially Season 1 has to be one of my favorite TV Shows and I have been re-watching it in the last few weeks. In episode 12 Frank says “Success is a mixture of preparation and luck.” And it is precisely because of his preparation, his calculated planning in reaching where he wanted to reach, that I enjoyed the show.
When Frank said the above, it reminded of the second quote: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”, often attributed to Seneca the Younger (L. Annaeus Seneca, 4 BC – AD 65). Many people have often quoted this from the likes of Oprah to Denzel Washington.
I suppose because of my analytic and mathematical background, these quotes became equations in my mind and I was able to connect them together as follows:
Equation 1: Luck = preparation + opportunity
Equation 2: Success = preparation + luck
And these two lead to the below formula of success:
Success = preparation + (preparation + opportunity) = 2x preparation + opportunity
Success thus requires two times more preparation than luck, which at least seems to make sense when I reflect back on times I felt success vs luck. For instance if I look at my transition from academia to industry, this was something I put a lot of preparation into to getting myself ready and positioning myself, for when the opportunity came along.
I have to also add that the more preparation one does, the more opportunities avail themselves.
Articulating this formula has thus defined my 2021 and future years resolution. For me to achieve success in my career and life goals, for me to live a fulfilled life, I have to double my efforts on preparing myself, while continuing to open myself up to opportunities.
#lifegoals #fulfilledlife #selfdevelopment
Also published on Medium.
I’m taking this with me. Thank you.
Me too.
Having more than luck requires more preparation .
Thanks Myriam for sharing your formula for success and I must say that I have to borrow this from you!