Sure many of these things can be done with employees, but studies have shown that people work harder and better if they are not being paid.  If they are working to help a friend they will put more effort into the work than if they are doing it for a boss just so they can receive a paycheck.  This is actually not that surprising.   Humans are social creatures, as such most of our motivation derives from external sources.   To the soldier who jumps on a hand grenade the lives of his comrades are more important than his own.    The satisfaction of having done something to help a friend or relative is much stronger than the sense of achievement for having done something simply for yourself.

With this in mind your friends are your most powerful asset in life.  Even more important than your own time and skills. Finding friends, effective friends, who can do things of value and will help you to further your goals instead of lead you astray should be of the utmost importance in your life.  More important than your education.  More important than your work ethic.  More important than any other factor.   Friends are what will make or break you.

You must choose your friends not just for what they can do for you, but for the changes they will make in you.

All of this may sound a bit mercenary; choosing who you spent time with based solely on what they can do for you, but it is vital. You are judged by the company you keep.  If you consort with liars or criminals people will assume you are one too.   Oddly enough if are not one when you befriend your unsavory compatriots you will most likely become just like them.  We pick up on the habits and values of those around us.   I you don’t smoke, but all of your friends do, chances are you will soon become a smoker.    If all of your friends are into eating healthy and exercise you will soon find you’ve gotten information from them on these subjects and you will start to apply that information.  It is only natural.  You must choose your friends not just for what they can do for you, but for the changes they will make in you.

This is how some people so effortlessly have lives of success and others struggle for years and never accomplish anything.   It’s the people around them.   It’s networking, but in a natural form.   By being surrounded by successful people you will be exposed to more opportunity. You will not have to make  it happen.  It will just come about in the natural course of your life.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

–Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)”

I don’t like the word luck.  To me it removes the element of skill.  When I think of luck I think of winning the lottery.  Dumb luck.  You bought a ticket just like everyone else and you were randomly picked.  Yay you.

What you want in your life is to be one of those people others perceive as lucky.   How did you find your beautiful spouse?  How did you get that great job?  You met someone and they were so impressed by you that it all flowed from there.  Lucky right?  Not really.  The key difference here is  they were impressed by you or simply liked you, that was that catalyst for your “luck.”

People tend to like what is similar to them.  They like people with similar interests.  They like people who dress in a similar style.  For smart, beautiful and successful people to like you all you need is to be smart, beautiful and successful yourself.

If you want to be a part of a certain crowd you need to act like it.   It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in order to be a thin person you need to eat like a thin person.   To be an athlete you need to work out like an athlete.  Yet people often think they can simply go on a diet for a few weeks and become thin or that they will become rich without doing the things rich people do.

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.

– Orison Swett Marden”

Luck, like anything, has to be earned and worked towards.  You can’t just wake up one day and be a jet fighter pilot.  You have to go to school to learn how to fly.  You have to train to be able to withstand intense g-forces.  Then you have to go out and prove, over and over again that you have done these things to the people who can put you into a position to be a fighter pilot.  Only then can you be lucky enough to become one.