Your Lucky Day
Luck has some role in professional success, While I wouldn’t sit around waiting for it, it does happen, once in a while.
Djimon Hounsou, the Beninese-born actor who played Cinqué in Amistad was quite literally homeless on the streets of Lyon, France, when a chance encounter with a photographer led to modeling roles, then to acting.
Isabelle Boulay was a college student in Matane, Quebec, whose friends signed her up for a talent contest without her knowledge. She won, leading to a string of hit songs and awards, with fame following across the francophone world.
Evangeline Lilly was passing time in Kelowna, BC, when a talent agent gave her his card. She stuck it away in a pocket and forgot about it, but later followed up. Before long she played the role of Kate Austen on Lost, followed by numerous roles in TV and cinema. Interestingly, she considers her true calling humanitarian work, saying, “I consider acting a day job—it’s not my dream; it’s not my be-all, end-all.”
Chris Pratt was waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Maui when he was discovered by actress and director Rae Dawn Chong.
Lana Turner was discovered by a talent scout while she was shopping, at age fifteen.
But don’t forget that Buddy Holley, considered by many to have been the most influential rock and roll musician ever, died in a plane crash at age twenty-two. Same story for John Denver and Keith Green. Not all luck is good luck, just ask John Lennon.
So, yes, luck comes along once in a while, but never forget it can be bad luck just as often as good luck, and in the meantime you have a life to live, things to prove, and a reputation to build, and none of those things will happen if you spend your life hanging around the mall waiting to be discovered.
Your lucky day is actually today, because today is the day you get to choose what the rest of your life could be. And that is a great stroke of luck.