On Lucky Breaks and Technicolor Coats

My household, growing up, was a very Roman Catholic one. We went to church every Sunday. The kids were involved in church services and the youth group from a young age. Everyone also had a personal Bible, even multiple copies as they came with first communions or confirmations. We even followed the Church’s example of “do as I say, not as I do” and swept abuses under the rug, but that’s a story for another blog post. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, being so pro-Christian one of the approved VHS tapes in our house was “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” starring Donny Osmond. I liked watching it for the beautiful stages and fascinating storyline. This story had everything: supernatural abilities, terrible loved ones, drama, jail, royal friends, sassy narrators, and sweet revenge! Only The Count of Monte Cristo can also check off these boxes, so I consider it the-list-that-determines-god-tier-stories.

There’s one scene in which the main character, Joseph, has just saved all of Egypt and is surrounded by scantily-dressed ladies. He goes on to sing one line that summarizes how he ended up with so much prestige and love that only the Pharaoh really outranks him. This line?

Anyone from anywhere can make it if they get a lucky break.”

“If they get a lucky break” being the main mantra. Not “work hard”. Or “work smart”. Not even “trust in God,” which is an interesting departure for a Christian musical. No: get a lucky break. Most of the musical is about how God got Joseph through the hard times, but this line doesn’t mention Him at all.

I have to hand it to writers for this line; they stuck to the truth of how luck is THE critical component of massive success.

My Lucky Breaks in Life, Mostly Unintentional

Folks chase this lucky break in weird ways. Some do it by turning to religion and praying for things as grandiose as the winning lotto ticket or as humble as keeping their home. Some chase that break with honest work, and some chase it with work that only works by hurting others (scammers, thieves, etc). These folks have not been lucky like, say, trust fund kids, or folks like me that got lucky in other ways.

There’s several lucky breaks that I got, ones that are all why I’m in such a good position now and not living in a shed somewhere. Firstly, I was born in a politically-stable nation where English became my mother tongue. Then, I had access to an education which included teaching me HOW TO READ. Learning how to read was the greatest thing I have EVER learned to do, along with how to write. Sure, I drew the short straw with a bad home life, but my coping mechanism, books, became a lucky break all on its own. Books is just about the least destructive avenue I could have taken, and I cannot say enough good things about reading and how it’s saved me many times over. Access to libraries (which is the most socialist thing ever) was another massively lucky break.

And what lucky-breaks list would be complete without mentioning THE INTERNET? Holy grail of all holy grails, the World Wide Web is what made it possible for continuing education tailored to my needs. This included both hard skills like finance and soft skills like social IQ (because, remember, I was a sad little bookworm during my formative years). All of these lucky breaks, combined with having no loan albatross around my neck, made it that much easier to reach six figures at 25.

But You Don’t Need That Much Luck

With all this said, remember that you don’t need a massive amount of luck to reach your goals. Joseph didn’t even have that much luck: the dude was sold into slavery by his own brothers. But then he tried to make the most out of slavery by working hard in the household he was sold. But guess what? That hard work didn’t work out for him, as he was then thrown in jail because of a false allegation. Dude spent several years in prison until word of mouth got him in front of the Pharoah and got his talents to shine.

My point is this: you don’t need a massive amount of luck to make it. What’s better: you can create your own luck. Would Joseph have made it in front of the Pharoah if he sulked about his lot in life? No, because he wouldn’t have had the heart to continue doing his thing that got him noticed by the king. But even if he multitasked with both divining and moaning about his hard life, I doubt he’d have made it out of that jail cell. Why would anyone want to be around that complaining guy, let alone recommend him to the most powerful person in your country?

So make your own luck. If you’re a) reading this b) on the Internet, you’ve got more luck than you might think. You don’t need much, after all.