the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke

Good luck, bad luck, no luck, take your pick. Luck plays a big part in life whether we like it or not. I feel that, over the years, I have benefitted more from good luck than anything, but why should that be?

There are those who say things like “The harder I practice, the luckier I get”, but that’s not really luck, it’s about judgement. Some of my ex-military pals use the 6Ps: Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance, and it can, but there is another military saying that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. I became a great fan of practice and learning from experience through my time in management and business, but I would not credit luck, good or bad, with the majority of my successes or failures.

Luck is a random element. You can, sometimes, predict outcomes, such as weather, traffic issues, mistakes, sickness or injury, but you don’t know for sure whether any or all of them will come into play. You can hedge your bets with some contingency planning, but if you try to allow for every possible scenario you will never get started.

Whilst you are at the mercy of things going wrong, or right, you should always try to have a plan for minimising the impact. I mention right here, because sometimes something will drop into your lap and you need to be able to capitalise on it. Sometimes you have to say yes, and then work out how the hell you are going to do it. Good or bad fortune, experience, practice and training can play their part in getting you out of the hole.

I have had some remarkable luck over my time. I have had the Grim Reaper’s fingers around my throat more than once, but I’m still here. The Berkshire Belle and I came together at a time in our lives when we were right for each other. I have been able to do all sorts of things that I would never have dreamt possible as a boy, or as a younger man.

Sure, there has been some misfortune, but when I look back even the bad luck seemed to put me into a place where I got lucky next time around. If anyone bothers with an epitaph, perhaps “Here lies a jammy bastard” would be appropriate.