A substitute spot opens in the orchestra with two days’ notice. Whoever already learned the part gets the chair.

Opportunity usually arrives too late to prepare for. The call comes with two days on it, so the only people able to take it are the ones who happened to be ready already, for no particular reason and with no guarantee it would pay off. That is why preparation looks like luck from outside.

Keep one thing ready that you have no immediate use for. Learn the part, keep the certificate current, have the portfolio sitting in a folder. Then when something opens with no notice, you are simply available.