The one thing I always am thankful for is good luck. While many people attribute luck to skill, experience, or planning, sometimes we’re just lucky.
When I was a tower climber, near misses happened quite often. Things would fall from the tower, people would just barely miss getting hurt, and so on. I saw this on the farm as well. Sometimes we take chances and most of the time it works out well. When I was on the farm people would get hurt, but rarely anything serious. The same thing in tower work, people would get hurt, usually doing something stupid, but nothing serious.
In life it’s the same way. Starting a business is another example. Some people get lucky by being at the right place at the right time. I look at Apple’s iPhone. I know we all credit Steve jobs, but he had a team he drove into the ground to make it happen. Oh, by the way, it wasn’t the first smartphone. Nokia and Bell Atlantic had some cool phones early on. The thing was, few networks could support data. The thing that set Apple apart was the design, quality, and AT&T’s commitment to make the network support data. Also, Wi-Fi was rising at that time. The combination of all of those things made the iPhone, and all smart devices after that, a huge success.
I never thought I would see the day when everyone would have a smartphone. Now, even homeless people have smartphones. Illegal immigrants crossing the border have smartphones. Hell, I still can’t believe how much they are and people with little money buy it like it’s a necessity, not a luxury. How crazy is that when you think about it.
So, is this luck or skill? I would say a combination of both.