every time someone gets rich, they love to talk about how "lucky" they were. wrong place, wrong time, happened to meet the right person. while to some extent it is "true", i still wholeheartedly believe its not all on luck. luck is just what people call it when they can't see the years of work that led to that moment.

here's what actually happened: they were prepared when opportunity showed up. they had been building, learning, positioning themselves for years. when their "lucky break" came, they were ready to grab it. everyone else was still figuring out what was happening.

why timing destroys talent

you can be the smartest person in the room and still fail spectacularly if your timing is off. history is littered with brilliant people who had the right idea at the wrong time. scientists got killed for saying the earth was round. their crime? being right before anyone was ready to hear it.

same thing happens in business. try to build uber in 1999 and you're toast. no smartphones, no gps, no one trusts getting in strangers' cars. ten years later, same exact idea becomes a $100 billion company. the only difference? timing.

instagram in 2003 would have been a disaster. slow internet, terrible phone cameras, people still using flip phones. launch it in 2010 when everyone has an iphone and suddenly you're a genius. the founders weren't luckier than everyone else, they just waited for the right moment.

look at the okc thunder. early 2010s, they had kevin durant, russell westbrook, and james harden. future hall of famers, all in their prime (ignore harden), all on the same team. they should have won multiple championships, a dynasty. but they ran into lebron's miami heat at exactly the wrong time. one year earlier or later and they probably win it all.

after they lost, everyone split up. but sam presti, their gm, didn't panic. he understood timing. he stockpiled draft picks, waited for the right moment, and built around shai gilgeous-alexander when sga was ready to become an mvp. now they're title contenders again. that's not luck, that's patience.

why this matters for you

i used to think success was random. some people get breaks, others don't. then i started paying attention to the people who kept getting "lucky." they all had one thing in common: they were always ready.

my own path proved this. if i hadn't met the right people at exactly the right time, i wouldn't be where i am. but here's the thing: i was only in position to meet them because i had been building, learning, and putting myself out there for years. the opportunity looked random, but the preparation wasn't.

being right too early feels exactly like being wrong. you have the correct insight, but if the world isn't ready for it, you fail. the key is learning to sense when the shift is coming and being ready to move when it does.

how to get "lucky"

you can't control when opportunities show up, but you can control whether you're ready when they do. build consistently. stay close to problems before they become obvious. learn constantly, even when you don't need to.

most people wait for permission or the perfect moment. by the time they're ready, someone else has already moved. the people who look lucky are the ones who were prepared and positioned while everyone else was still thinking about it.

luck is just preparation meeting opportunity. the more you prepare, the luckier you get. but rich people would rather call it luck than admit they've been working toward this moment for years.

i might not have as much experience as everyone else when it comes to luck and timing. but i've seen and heard too many stories to ignore the pattern. i'm still learning, still figuring it out. but from what i can tell, the people who get "lucky" are usually the ones who were ready when opportunity knocked.