How to Achieve Success in All Endeavors: What is 'Luck Mentality' and How to Achieve It

Luck is not just a matter of chance. Alex Rovira, in his book The Luck Mindset, argues that it is a function of our thinking, beliefs, and actions. Forbes tells how to change negative attitudes to positive ones, develop proactivity and instill healthy habits.

Exercises to identify limiting beliefs and daily reflection techniques will increase awareness and productivity, says Rovira. Below is a chapter from the writer's book – Good Luck: Creating the Conditions for Success in Life and Business.

When we speak of transformation, we mean continuity, a certain process. We understand persistence as attempts made again and again. However, about long-suffering, which can bring us much good, almost nothing is known. Instead of this term, there is a gaping hole in our lexicon.

According to the dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, patience is “greatness and fortitude of spirit in the face of adversity,” and also “kindness of heart, mercy, and generosity.” In this context, the concept conflicts with modern express culture. It demands that everything be achieved quickly and effortlessly, focusing on the good of the individual rather than society.

Let us come to the rescue of this valuable quality, which is of the utmost importance for you, the creators of your destiny, and therefore necessary for the development of a lucky mentality.

Unwavering tenacity

Longsuffering is endurance that is extended over time because it includes strength, humility, determination, and constant learning.

Resilience is given to people so that they can adapt to adverse circumstances and, having overcome difficulties, obtain a positive result. The resilient fall and, having gained cones, rise to use their experience in the future. Those who are long-suffering, that is, generous and noble, retain the acquired skills and constantly apply them.

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“That’s why I like to tell people I love and in whom I see patience: ‘I learned so much from my mistakes that even when I stumbled, I didn’t fall, I flew,’” Rovira writes in his book.

These words came to his mind one day during an aikido training session. Rovira devoted several years of his life to martial arts.

“I remember how during the first two years, at almost every training session, the master taught us to fall without hurting ourselves and to quickly jump up. Some quit because they were bored with practicing falling on the floor and getting up again lesson after lesson. We practiced falling forward, backward, to the side, somersaulting, and once on the floor, we had to get back on our feet as quickly as possible while maintaining balance,” the author writes. “Without a doubt, thanks to these training sessions, I understood a lot about life, because the practice of ‘fall – get up’ can be applied to other areas of life in addition to sports: love failures, disappointments in friendship, quarrels with family or partners, professional problems, deception and fraud, any blows of fate – in general, to everything that knocks us off our feet.”

Ultimately, if you think about the etymological meaning of the word “suffering,” you will find that it is simply amazing and has Latin roots (longus, “long,” + animus, “soul”). It is the ability to endure life’s trials without losing one’s presence of mind. Someone who is endowed with long-suffering will not look for shortcuts to achieve the goal as quickly as possible and at any cost (in other words, to grab what is his). The main thing for him is to make every effort and show courage so as not to get off the path and not to lose heart because of the obstacles that life will confront him with.

Another definition of patience is kind-heartedness, mercy and generosity. People who exemplify this incredible inner strength are also kind, empathetic, compassionate and loyal. After all, only those who are given a big heart are strong enough in spirit to step forward to adversity decisively and without hesitation.

“Just think what a wonderful concept this ‘suffering’ is, and how important it is for learning to live with dignity and gain inner strength!” says Rovira.

Silkworm

In the film about David Bowie (David Bowie: Moonage Daydream), the hero states: “Sometimes the most heroic thing you can do is to live to the end of the day having done something useful.” Patience, then, on the one hand, involves taking a long view, understanding that life will bring us many challenges that we can turn into opportunities to grow ourselves and help others do the same.

On the other hand, with the help of patience we are saved daily from laziness and cowardice - concepts that are the opposite of patience. A cowardly person lacks the strength of spirit and courage to start acting, to face dangers or problems, to survive a misfortune.

Longsuffering is greatness and fortitude of spirit in the face of adversity.

To illustrate this unwavering tenacity, Rovira cites an example from the animal kingdom: the silkworm. This creature painstakingly spins a silk cocoon from which it will then emerge to transform into a butterfly, thus completing its metamorphosis.

Like the myth of the phoenix, sometimes we have to let who we are today die so that who we are tomorrow can be born. As the writer George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

The transformation of the silkworm requires a great deal of effort, because the butterfly must break the very shell that protected it with its weak wings. If it wants to break free and spread its wings, it will have to go through this ordeal.

In Hermann Hesse’s coming-of-age novel, Demian: The Story of a Youth by Emil Sinclair, we find the same metaphor. “A bird emerges from an egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must destroy the world.” Yes, when the moment comes to break the shell, we retreat, miss the chance to change and spread our wings. If we rush and do it too soon, we too will fail.

In one laboratory, they conducted an experiment and helped a butterfly get out of its cocoon early. What happened? It couldn't fly, because it is the super-effort that gives the wings of butterflies the power that lifts them into the air. If they can't fly, they can't feed, so they die and, of course, don't produce offspring. So their entire species will die out.

Three lessons

From all this we can draw three important lessons that are useful for the luck mentality:

1. Effort, constant over time, is the key to success.
2. Without effort and courage, all we can hope for is death, albeit in the very pleasant conditions of the comfort zone. Remember what people whose days were numbered said: "If only I had been braver!"
3. Acting at the right moment is the key to success in personal transformation, and in any endeavor in general. Remember: luck loves timing.

Heroism in the name of love

Long-suffering gives its owners a big soul and a flexible nature. Such people throw all their efforts into achieving the goal, skillfully adapting to circumstances, and kindness, compassion and generosity are the very key components, combining which existential alchemy turns pain into victory. Virtues should be for the benefit of both you and others.

It is impossible not to mention love, which is shown through care, understanding and inspiration.

“There is a story I learned a few years ago that inspired me and helped me a lot when one of my daughters became seriously ill,” Rovira writes in her book. “I often tell it because it is about extraordinary human courage and overcoming, and it is also a brilliant example of resilience and patience.”

The main character of this story is American Dick Hoyt, a former military man whose life changed dramatically in 1962 when his son Rick was born with cerebral palsy.

Because of his illness, he could not and still cannot speak, walk, or even move his hands to somehow express his thoughts through gestures.

At the age of 12, Rick began communicating with others using a computer program that translated his head movements into words and then into phrases. The first words he “uttered” this way were, “Go Bruins!” in support of the Boston hockey team. His father, an avid Boston Bruins fan, often took his son to the stadium in a wheelchair. Rick became a fan of the team, too. His parents realized that the boy was interested in sports and decided that they did not want to put up with the doctors’ opinion that Rick was doomed to remain in a vegetative state. And that’s where it all began.

Dick Hoyt decided to team up with his son, and they began training and competing together in some of the toughest marathons and triathlons in the country. During the competitions, Dick pushed Rick around in a stroller like a baby.

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Dick and Rick entered their first race in 1977. Spectators and other competitors were amazed to see a father pulling his 60-pound son in a boat during the swim, then strapping him to a bicycle and then pushing him in a wheelchair during the marathon.

The Hoyts competed in over 1000 sporting events. Dick overcame them all without a break, with equipment and the added burden of a growing son, achieving more than magnificent results. This caused deep admiration among both competitors and fans.

How did Dick Hoyt set these superhuman records while being tied to Rick? The only possible explanation is that he was driven and empowered by love. Dick wanted to show his son that nothing was impossible. His message reached its target. With his father's example of patience before his eyes, Rick managed to finish school and even earned a degree in special education from Boston University. He was able to get a job at Boston College and live independently in his own apartment. In addition, the city of Boston officially recognized the achievements of father and son, and a bronze statue was erected in their honor.

This exceptional example of incredible effort is proof that the limits of the possible extend further than one can imagine. As Plato said, there is no man who, even if he were the last coward, could not become a hero in the name of love.

Great soul

If you do not notice in yourself such feats of patience, which makes us make efforts and encourages generosity, then ask yourself the question: “What can I do, even the smallest, to make my life and the lives of those around me better here and now?”

Having found the answer, you will multiply your personal resources, become more agile and resilient, be able to learn more lessons from your own and others' mistakes and failures, and with a clear awareness of all this, the growth of the soul will begin. It will be filled with strength and will break your ego in order to be reborn and become great. In addition to constant resilience, patience will launch "alchemical reactions", and difficulties and seeming failures will turn into life experience.

Remember the famous quote from Michael Jordan, who was back in the spotlight after the release of The Last Dance: “I missed over 9000 shots in my career. I lost 300 games. I had shots that could have made the difference in the game… and I missed. Loss followed loss. That’s what made me successful.”

What have life's mistakes taught you? What lesson could you learn from them today? Now?

How have they helped you grow and become a better person? Are you ready to implement and practice patience in your life from now on to lay the foundation for your luck mentality?

Strengthen your wings

1. Think of an ability, habit, or attitude that you don't currently have that would allow you to spread your wings.
2. Without further ado, start training this ability (habit, attitude).
3. When you get impatient because you don't see results yet, imagine yourself as a butterfly trapped inside a silkworm cocoon. It is in the process of metamorphosis and working hard to break the shell when it is ready.
4. Motivate yourself by thinking about what your life will be like when you can emerge from your cocoon, spread your wings and fly towards a new important goal.