While you're reading this post, I'll be sitting in a condo on the eighth floor of a building that overlooks the beach in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. I'd post a picture for you on Facebook, except I don't do social media. I have enough drama in my life, without that.
Before I left yesterday, someone told me how lucky I was to be able to take vacations three or four times a year. And I agreed with them. I am lucky. Lucky to be sober for nearly 28 years. Lucky to have my family back in my life. Lucky to have started a recovery program 27 years ago that has spread clear across Arizona. Lucky to have my hands in several other small businesses.
But the reality is that there's more to it than that. While luck is definitely a component of many successful people's lives there is something else that people don't often recognize. And that's the fact that what many people call luck I call hard work and taking advantage of opportunities when they arise.
As Thomas Edison said: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work". And a truer statement was probably never made.
In my case, the success I enjoy is because I show up every day, whether I feel like it or not. The reason I'm able to show up is that I quit putting drugs and alcohol in my system. But once I got the drugs and alcohol out of my life I decided that I was going to enjoy the years that I had left. And because I had destroyed businesses and opportunities over and over again, I knew that I had to be disciplined about showing up every day - whether I felt like it or not. Showing up equates with hard work.
If you're an addict or alcoholic who hasn't done too much damage to your brain or your health and are willing to work you can enjoy whatever kind of life you choose. I know many addicts and alcoholics today who are outstanding successes in every way – financially, socially, with their families, and as members of their community.
But if you look behind the scenes you'll see that every one of them show up every day and do their best. And they are "lucky" because they work hard.
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