YOU'RE SO LUCKY

If you ever have experienced any degree of success in your life, you've most likely heard the phrase "you're so lucky".  It takes on many forms.

"You're so lucky!  You can eat whatever you want and not get fat."
"You're so lucky!  You can easily put on weight."
"You're so lucky!  You have access to a safety squat bar."
"You're so lucky!  You're getting trained by a highly regarded expert."

The madness needs to stop.  This is simply a passive aggressive means of making excuses while denying someone else's hard work and dedication.

My educational background exists in primarily in western political theory, so lets talk a little bit about Nicolo Machiavelli.  In "The Prince", Machiavelli addressed the notion of luck, or "fortune" as it applied to a new leader.  To summarize, Machiavelli said that fortune was a fickle mistress that only favored those that were able to adapt to its changing tides.  Those who remained stagnant would eventually be destroyed by their inability to adapt, while those that were flexible and capable to utilize any tactics necessary to meet with what the situation dictated would in turn flourish.  Machiavelli also extended the metaphor of fortune being a mistress to mean that, like a woman, it needed to be beat into submission.

You're on your own on this one Nick.

The point here being this: luck is a skill.  I realize the insanity of the words I am writing when I put them together in that order, but stick with me here.  Luck isn't just about random chance, it's about putting yourself in the best situation to be able to take advantage of that chance.  As an example, I want to win the lottery.  I think that would be just dandy.  However, I don't buy any tickets ever, and thus I am putting myself in a poor position to be lucky.

Seems simple right?  Well lets extrapolate it.  What's a good way to be lucky enough to have access to a safety squat bar?  Go out and buy one.  There are a ton of sites that sell them, from independent welders to high end dealers, to even sales on craigslist.  If you just stay at home at night and wish for your gym to buy one, your odds of being lucky are very slim, but if you force fortune to bend to your will by affecting the change you wish to see in your environment  you will become very lucky and have a safety squat bar.  If you can't afford one, make the small changes necessary to your budget to be able to eventually afford one (reduce money spent on drinking/coffee/fast food/other luxuries).  This strategy holds true with just about any piece of equipment.

Want to be lucky enough to have access to a highly regarded specialist?  Seek them out.  These days, many of these individuals can be accessed online, so it's even easier than ever.  Prior to that, in order to be so "lucky", you had to move to where these guys were in order to be able to be trained by them on a regular basis.  And those "lucky" individuals that were dedicated enough to take fortune into their own hands made this sacrifice in order to become the best, much like how you can seek out the aid of those greater than you and get their expert advice.

Want to be lucky enough to gain/lose weight at will?  Do the work in the kitchen.  Yes, some people were blessed genetically to be able to eat garbage all day and maintain a six pack, and some people can put on muscle by looking at a steak.  If you aren't these people, it's time to make your own luck.

"I don't understand why I can't lose weight.  I only eat one meal a day."

Know that once you spend enough time making your own luck, your ability to bend fortune to your will is going to appear so effortless that you will incur the envy of others that presuppose that you do not endure the same struggles that they do.  They will claim that you have superior genetics, that they wished they were lucky enough to have access to world class training, they would be big and strong too if they had enough time in the day to cook and eat, etc.  All this means is that you have succeeded, so congrats, you can't succeed without attracting haters.  Just know that if you catch yourself accusing others of luck, it may be time to step back, look inward, and wonder what it is you could be doing to make yourself more lucky.