How our life turns out ultimately comes down to two things – luck and skill.
We cannot control how lucky we get in life. Just the fact that we were born in a first world country and have access to the internet makes us luckier than a lot of people.
What we do have control over is our skill. What can we do to influence the outcome of events in our lives? How can we put ourselves in position to improve our lives? This includes taking the right actions, but also avoiding the wrong ones. It includes being aggressive in the right spots, after doing research, but being conservative enough to not chase after “lottery tickets.” What new skills can we learn or what existing skills do we already have that we can improve?
“Congrats! You made the sale!” Don’t pat yourself on the back too much. Yes, it took skill to close the deal. But you also got lucky. You got lucky that the client was ready to buy, that they called you, or that they heard about your company from a friend. Remember, there are always elements of both luck and skill in everything we do.
The less somebody needs something (where demand is low), the more skill is required to obtain the sale. As we become more experienced in our profession, we should rely less and less on luck and more on skill. It’s like a sliding scale. Maybe the sale depends on 50% luck/50% skill in year one, but gradually slides to 40/60, 30/70, etc as we become more skilled and are able to overcome objections and “bad luck.”