Tag: luck

Ever wish you had more luck? Ever hope that things would go your way? Ever dream you could just find that edge? The truth is, you can. It is just that the actions to get there are more straightforward and more accessible than you think.

I worked with a great Boy Scout troop in California once. We would go on about three camporees a year where the troops would participate in a set of games to show their camping skills. It was always a lot of fun.

About two weeks before the Camporee, our troop would have a campout of its own. Everyone would train on the skills that would be tested during the jamboree. This was an excellent sharing of knowledge and helped the scouts to know and understand what they were doing. Because of this, our scouts would almost always place well in the competition. I don’t believe it is because they were smarter, or better than any of the other kids. I believe it was merely the fact that they had explored those skills and the best practices to actually make the skills work.

This is a fantastic set of actions I think we can all learn from. If we want something in life, we should explore it. Understanding and knowledge can always go far. I remember once a veteran telling me about a time he was on a field exercise. He was a very young soldier newly enlisted in just through technical school, and he was driving a deuce and a half on the exercise.

During a stop, he was little bored, and he was reading the information plate on the inside edge of the door to the driver’s cab. He closed the door, and within a couple of minutes a general came by and talked to him. Because he had just read the plate from the door, he could tell the General that he was driving a fantastic truck that could do haul up to so many pounds, the type of drivetrain, and even that the tires were self-inflating. The general was very impressed and shook the soldier’s hand before walking on.

I am not sure I would go out of my way to look for luck. There are many positive experiences all around us. Rather than grasping at the intangibles that seem to continually evade us, be curious. Explore things that you want to be known for and share that knowledge freely. For that is when the intangibles will come.