I quit my job a few weeks ago to do, well, do things like this.
“You sure are lucky to be able to do that,” some person informed me.
Lucky? Hmm. I don’t recall winning any lottery. Didn’t cash in any outlandish stock options. Definitely no unexpected inheritance. Nope, can’t find anything lucky about it. Though I would surely take any of these occurrences if they came along.
And it’s not because I’m brilliant. If I was so brilliant, I wouldn’t have been working at a job I wanted to get out of. It was a good job, with good people.
I don’t even have a plan for world domination: no product or invention that will make a million. Well, maybe I do have some thoughts about world domination, just no plan. But that is a different post.
For me world domination is about fulfillment, my fulfillment. I know, I know. That’s pretty selfish. But in my defense, I will be able to bring much more positivity to the world if I also have positivity in me.
But back to the question of being lucky, or how I quit my job in two easy steps. OK, so there aren’t two EASY steps. But there are two distinct activities that occurred.
First, the envisioning. I envisioned getting out and doing something. It doesn’t matter what. Just a goal. Nothing too detailed since it ultimately won’t be exactly what you think it will be anyway (no use in mapping sand dunes).
Second, the little choices. The thousands of little choices that will take you there, some will be bigger than others for sure. There is no big decision though (except for the envisioning), no cataclysmic event. Well, there will be a cataclysmic event. You just don’t know what it will be and when it will occur. And that’s OK.
So you ask, what are these little choices? Well, that is a matter for another post. Perhaps your next little choice will be to come back and find out.
Fortress of Dissolitude 
I think I’m sitting at your old desk
Be careful. I have heard it has magical properties.
Luck. Choices. I give far too much time to the subject of fulfillment and happiness for the results that I get….;), but my summer reading included some Tae Te Ching and Buddhism, and both seem to point to fulfillment being achieved by living in the moment, and being constantly grateful for everything you have and experience. Or that is a very short summary of what I gleaned from it anyway. And of course, there is the thinking that we call into our lives everything and every experience by thinking it, giving it thought energy, and thus manifesting it. Not sure how on board I am with that whole idea….hmmmm. Maybe somewhat.
So….this sort of plays into your words above, about choices. Little choices that we make all the time. Luck. Do we create our own luck? Is it just a spiffy word for a positive outcome of all the little choices that are the ingredients in the recipe of our end result?
Sorry…a bit long winded….
Well, Katie, maybe the short moral to the story is don’t rely on luck. Make choices that take you in the right direction. Since we all have different goals, these choices will be different for all of us. Now if the choices you’re making aren’t taking you toward positive outcomes, then perhaps examining the influences being exerted on those choices might be a good place to look.
Yes…very wise insight, I suppose. Hard to let go of certain choices and outcomes sometimes, but then again, the universe probably opens up new things once we change the choice path, I suppose. And maybe those outcomes are better. And one doesn’t know until one takes the risk.
Lots of supposing, I guess. Or I suppose there is lots of guessing.
Anyway….compliments to Red God for the above phrase “residue of good planning” – Cool. Nice wording. I like that.
I am confused is the glass
still half full or half empty???
Well, Pesky Dale, as an engineering friend of mine would say, if a 16 oz glass has only 8 oz in it is the wrong size for the application. But maybe the question goes back to whether you are confused about the glass or just confused.
I usually make the small choice every night to have a beer. And then ponder how other small choices in my life have resulted in me being the mother to a 3 yr old red headed boy, a paper pushing corporate whore, a friend of someone who writes blog posts about luck…….My figurative 16 oz glass is always full. My literal pint glass is only full for seconds, unless I am getting bad service. All my “issues” are 1st world issues. I am lucky.
I guess, paperpiusher, maybe you should ponder past choices less since they tend to be an awful predictor of the success of future choices. The beer will taste better without all those past choices mucking it up.
Luck is the residue of good planning