A to Z of Luck : A is for Artist Date

Do we make our own luck?

Today I am working on a short oration, for the NSANZ Christchurch Chapter Orator's contest. The topic: "Luck: you make your own". It's got me thinking:

Is there some invisible force called "luck" passing back and forth across the countryside, alighting here and there on fortunate people, skirting the unfortunate and pouring down like waterfall on a blessed few?

It is reported that Napoleon Bonaparte, in selecting his Generals, required that they be lucky men.Whether he thought this was an innate quality, or something they earned, or made themselves I don't know.

Some people chase luck like they seek the magic bullet – hoping against hope, waiting for the day that their luck will turn. In the meantime, they anaethetise their pains, avoid feeling by filling their time with celebrity gossip, drink, drug, food, or TV.

Others seem to be effortlessly lucky - with opportunities abounding all around.

My instinct is that we all are surrounded by a myriad of opportunities, every day, and that the genius of luck is first, being able to see them, and second, able to take advantage of them. And that there are a number of things we can do to make luck more likely.

As I played around with speech structures, I thought about the factors that influence luck. Three things stood out: being Early, having Faith that you will find what you need and behaving accordingly, and the freedom from guilt that comes with knowing you are up to date and have done your best.

Having come up with and E (Early), F(Faith) and G(Guilt-free) I kept going, and along with my Flat White coffee, realised I could go all the way from A to Z, on the subject of luck, and how to find it.

Much has been made of the recession, with gloom and doom about the economy in newspapers and on tv. As an antidote to the pessimism, I offer you the beginning of my A to Z of luck. There will be 26 instalments (one for each letter of the alphabet), and of course, that begins with the letter A.

A is for Artist's Date, and for Action:

The concept of the Artist Date, comes from the work of Julia Cameron, and her program The Artist’s Way. (It is also called a Time Out in The Artist's Way at Work, written by Julia, and Mark Bryan). It's a weekly, planned time-out where you take time to do something that feeds your inner artist or explorer.

It may be taking time to visit antique shops, to walk along the beach and collect shells for a collage, it could be a trip to a movie. Or maybe time spent baking and icing a cake.

Especially in these times, we need to make time to explore our passions, to connect with and feed our creative spirit. Paul Hawken advises

“Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor”

A is also for Action – taking action on worries, making small changes, however imperfect, is more likely to lead to rewards. When we take action we get the feeling we have power over our circumstances.

So: to make luck for yourself: take time to take Action, and plan some Artist Date time to nurture your inspiration and creativity.

Tomorrow: the letter “B”