Table Of ContentLUCK
/^ACCIDENT
Making the Most of Happenstance
in Your Life and Career
John D« Krumboltz, Ph.D.
LUCK
/p&ACCIDENT
Making the Most ofHappenstance
in Your Life and Career
John D. Krumboltz, Ph.D.
Al S, Levin, EcLD.
Impact Publishers
ATASCADERO, CALIFORNIA
Copyright© 2004
byJohn D. Krumboltz and Al S. Levin
All rights reserved under international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No
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otherwise, without express written permission ofthe author or publisher, exceptfor
briefquotations in criticalreviews.
ATTENTION ORGANIZATIONS AND CORPORATIONS:
This book is available at quantity discounts on bulk purchases for educational,
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krumboltz,John D.
Luck is no accident : making the most of happenstance in your life and
career /John D. Krumboltz, Al S. Levin,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-886230-53-6
Vocational guidance. 2. Chance. I. Levin, Al S. II. Title.
HF5381 .K743 2002
650.1-dc21 2002038756
ImpactPublishersandcolophon areregisteredtrademarksofImpactPublishers, Inc.
Cover design by
K.A. White Design, San Luis Obispo, California
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free, recycled paper.
Published by
Impact £^ Publishers®
POSTOFFICEBOX6016
ATASCADERO,CALIFORNIA93423-6016
www.impactpublishers.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
vii
Introduction
1
1 Make the most of unplanned events 3
2 Always keep your options open 21
—
3 Wake up before your dream comes true! 33
—
4 Try it even without knowing the outcome 53
5 Go ahead and make mistakes 73
6 Take action to create your own luck 89
—
7 Go for thejob then learn the skills 107
—
8 Enjoy yourself the good life is a balanced life 121
9 Overcome self-sabotage 135
10 Remember that luck is no accident 143
—
important lessons about creating luck
Annotated Bibliography 147
Index 151
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/luckisnoaccidentOOjohn
Acknowledgements
We
wish to gratefully acknowledge the work of Dr. Kathleen
Mitchell of City College of San Francisco who initially
brought the three of us together to discuss how unplanned events
are influential in everyone's career. Dr. Mitchell is to be credited for
the term and the career counseling theory, Planned Happenstance.
The three ofus shared ideas and opinions in frequent meetings over
three years. Kathleen convinced us of the necessity to change the
current paradigm of career counseling to better meet the needs of
today's workplace. The three of us collaborated in presenting
symposia and workshops at career development conferences. Dr.
Mitchell is the first author of an article in which we spelled out the
details from our deliberations and their implications for counselors.
We are also indebted to Diane Byster and Anne Chan for their
detailed feedback on preliminary drafts of the manuscript and for
contributing stories of how their careers were also influenced by
unplanned events.
Hundreds of people have contributed their own personal stories
which have helped us to crystallize our ideas of how creating luck
actually works in practice. While we were not able to include all
these stories in the book, we have benefited from the wisdom in all
the stories. We have promised anonymity to many who were willing
to have their stories published, and we have occasionally taken
literary license to modify names and places to disguise the identity
of contributors.
Al would like to thank his wife and daughter, Eileen and Rachel,
for always keeping an eye out for good happenstance illustrations.
John is grateful to his wife, Betty, and to his children, Ann, Jenny,
Shauna and Scott for living lives filled with multiple stories which
helped to inspire this book.
vn
Introduction
There are a number of books that deal with luck, chance, and
happenstance. This book is different. We believe that "luck is
no accident."
Each and every person plays a key role in creating his or her
own unexpected career- and life-enhancing events and transforming
them into real opportunities. Although this book concentrates on
ways that you can enhance your career, we're convinced that these
ideas apply to other facets of your life as well, even your love life!
You will find here
• Real-life stories that illustrate that luck is no accident;
• Specific advice based on these stories that you will be able to
apply to your own life; and
• Thought-provoking and action-oriented exercises that you
can use right now.
The story behind the title ofthis book is an illustration ofthe fact
that "luck is no accident." Surprisingly, one of the most difficult tasks
in writing a book is coming up with a good title. The title needs to
capture the main theme of the book injust a few words, and it must
be understandable and, preferably, catchy as well. We struggled for
many months with different possibilities. As we were about to tell
our editor, Dr. Bob Alberti, about our final title idea, he said to us
with a hint of desperation: "I think this might be number 63!"
Al Levin's true story about how the title of this book came to be
provides a good example of why "Luck is No Accident."
My wife Eileen, our daughter Rachel, and decided to go to dinner at a
I
local restaurantthatwefrequent. When wearrived weweregreeted bythe
hostess, who told us it would be five minutes or so before we could be
seated. As wewaited, Eileen glanced up on the wall and noticed a plaque
—
with the inscription "Success is NoAccident: Safety FirstAward 2001."
She immediately turned to me and said "How about something like that
1
2 LUCK IS NOACCIDENT
as a title for your book? You know, 'Luck is No Accident.'" I loved it
immediately.
Some people would simply call this incident "pure luck." We
look at it quite differently. There were actions that were taken that
led to a new title that everyone liked. What wisdom can we glean
from this example of "luck?"
Be aware of your surroundings
• Eileen had her eyes open to the environment around her,
even in a place as mundane as a frequently visited
restaurant.
Take a risk, even with rejection as a possible outcome
• Despite the fact that he had rejected other title ideas she had
proposed, Eileen told Al about her discovery.
Be adaptable and open-minded
• Eileen adapted the inscription to better match the concept of
the book.
• The co-authors and publisher were open-minded about the
new title idea, although it was getting late in the game.
You're probably reading this book now because you have a
problem you wish to solve. Unhappy with your job? Don't have a
job? Facing a difficult career or life decision? Wishing for that "lucky
break"? This book will teach you how you can create your own luck
and benefit from
it.
You will read stories about well-known people as well as average
everyday people who provide proof that luck is no accident. We
believe everyone has a similar story to tell. Our wish for you is to be
able to write your own good-luck story after you finish this book.
