“Luck is not merely the coin tossed by chance. It is the quiet reward of motion, preparation, awareness, and courage. The fortunate person is not always the one who waits for the door to open, but the one who keeps walking until a doorway appears.” – MJ Martin
Luck is one of the most mysterious ideas in human life because it seems to sit somewhere between chance, preparation, timing, character, and perception. When something good happens unexpectedly, we call it good luck. When something goes wrong despite our best effort, we call it bad luck. Yet luck is not a single thing. It has different forms, and understanding those forms helps us see that some luck is completely random, while other kinds of luck can be invited, shaped, or recognized through action.
The simplest form of luck is blind luck. This is the luck of pure chance, where no amount of skill, planning, or effort meaningfully changes the outcome. Being born in a peaceful country, meeting someone by accident, winning a random prize, or avoiding a delay because of an unexpected schedule change are examples of blind luck. This kind of luck reminds us that life is not fully controlled by merit or intention. Some advantages and disadvantages arrive before we have any opportunity to influence them.
Circumstantial luck comes from being in the right environment at the right time. A person may grow up during a period of economic expansion, enter an industry just before it becomes important, or live in a city where opportunity is abundant. This type of luck is not purely random because people can sometimes move toward better circumstances, but it is still heavily shaped by forces larger than the individual. Circumstantial luck shows how timing, geography, family, education, and social networks can influence the direction of a life.
Prepared luck is the kind of luck that appears when opportunity meets readiness. A musician who practices for years may seem lucky when suddenly discovered, but the discovery only matters because the skill was already there. A businessperson who studies a market may appear lucky when a new trend emerges, but preparation allows that person to respond faster than others. This is the famous idea that luck favours the prepared mind. Prepared luck is powerful because it gives people agency. We cannot control when the door opens, but we can decide whether we are ready to walk through it.
Active luck is created through movement, curiosity, and effort. People who try many things, meet many people, ask questions, travel, learn, build, and share ideas increase their exposure to fortunate possibilities. The create more surface area for luck to land. A person sitting still may wait for luck to arrive, while an active person creates more intersections where unexpected opportunities can appear. This does not guarantee success, but it increases the number of chances for something useful, surprising, or transformative to happen.
Social luck emerges through relationships. A recommendation, introduction, friendship, mentor, customer, colleague, or chance conversation can change a person’s life. Many opportunities travel through people before they become visible. Social luck is not simply about knowing powerful individuals. It is also about trust, reputation, generosity, and being remembered when an opportunity appears. People who help others, communicate well, and remain dependable often benefit from social luck because others want to include them in future possibilities.
There is also a subtler form of luck: the ability to recognize good fortune when it appears. Sometimes opportunity arrives disguised as inconvenience, change, risk, or failure. A lost job may lead to a better career. A rejected proposal may force a stronger idea. A mistake may reveal a new path. Interpretive luck depends on mindset. Two people can experience the same event, yet one sees only frustration while the other sees possibility. In this sense, luck is partly a matter of perception.
Luck is not one force. It is a mixture of chance, timing, preparation, action, relationships, and interpretation. Some luck simply happens to us. Some luck happens near us. Some luck happens because we have made ourselves ready. The wisest approach is to respect the randomness of life while still behaving as though fortune can be cultivated. We cannot command luck, but we can prepare for it, move toward it, and recognize it when it arrives.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin in a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.