RE: The Sub Shop Guy

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- jci -dot- com]

>Wealth correlates with luck, with intelligence, with charm, and a
>tiny bit with hard work,

Spoken like someone who isn't wealthy. ;{>}

The reference to luck reminds me of a football proverb. It was coined by
one of the finest wide recievers to play the game -- Ray Berry.

Berry specialized in the hard catch, grabbing the ball almost effortlessly
when other recievers would have missed it completely. His "lucky" catches
were legendary.

After practice was over, Berry would grab a bag of footballs, string a net
up under the goalposts and call out to the kids who had been watching the
practice. He'd then proceed to run another hour or more of patterns in
front of the net, while the kids would toss him passes. The kids on their
best days were far worse than Unitas, his quarterback, was on his worst
day. Berry got accustomed to turning, looking up for the incoming ball and
finding it in the most peculiar places. Hence the "lucky" catches.

His proverb? "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

<soapbox>
I'll give you another football proverb. "The difference between the
successful person and the unsuccessful person isn't a matter of skill, nor
intelligence, nor even luck. It's a matter of will." Intelligence doesn't
always correlate with wealth. Charm? Get real. The charming rich are the
ones born to it; the nouveau riche are rude and greedy, almost to a person.
They're rich because they decided they were going to be, and paid the price
to get there. If you wouldn't have paid the price, that's perfectly OK, and
I'm not going to fault anyone for making that decision, because in many
cases I'd agree. But I'm not going to blame luck for the consequences of my
decisions.

You want a lucky break? Prepare for it. Spend some time preparing for the
break you want, so when it comes along, you'll be ready for it. You want to
move into another area of the field? Start now by working on your own time

on some similar exercises, so you have something to show when the moment
happens. Learn a new tool, drop by the local college computer lab.
Oftentimes you can trade some of your expertise for some time "playing"
with the tools they've loaded on their systems. Haunt the computer sales.
I've picked up $500 software packages for $15 by settling for buying old
stock from a closeout dealer on the last day of the sale. Yes, it's not the
latest version. But it'll run and get you a start on the basics of the
tool. And upgrades are cheaper than new purchases. ;{>}

Breaks happen. We *all* get them. I've missed a couple in my time that
would have put me on easy street had I been ready for them when they came
knocking. If you don't think you have, odds are it's because you didn't
even see them when they came. (Don't feel bad, you're not alone; I'm sure I
missed some of those as well.)

But don't make the mistake of thinking it's all just chance. I'm not a
victim of chance. It's not chance that put me where I am today. It was *me.
* And, like it or lump it, *I'm* the one who can do something about it,
nobody else on the planet can. The sooner I can internalize that, the
sooner I can "get lucky."

If you're not prepared, you're not lucky; it really *is* that simple.

</soapbox>

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.


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