Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.

Most of what looks like a lucky break was preceded by a long, unglamorous stretch that nobody watched. Chance does turn up, but it tends to turn up for people who have already done the work that lets them use it. From the outside only the moment of arrival is visible, which makes the whole thing look like a gift rather than a harvest.

When you envy someone’s good fortune, ask what they were doing in the years before it. Then pick the piece of your own work that no one will see this month and do it anyway. Readiness is the part you control.