Luck:

Pronunciation: \ˈlək\ Function: noun
1. a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
2 : favoring chance; also: success
3: to prosper or succeed especially through chance or good fortune—usually used with out
4 : to come upon something desirable by chance —usually used with out, on, onto, or into

Lady Luck. We all know her. Celebrated in song, and in film. Wished upon us at the start of a journey or challenge. Prayed for, when we think we need it most. But seriously, what exactly is “Luck?” Beyond that, how does one become “Lucky?”

I’ve been called lucky more times than I could count, or ever want to for that matter. At a marketing event a couple of weeks ago I was asked: “But really man…mufflers in Topeka Kansas 6 years ago…to this? No way! You’ve got to be the luckiest guys ever! I need to take you to Vegas!” Charming fellow, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this guys’ enthusiasm. It was like he found a gold-plated rabbit’s foot wrapped in 20′s or something.

I told him: “First off I don’t gamble. I only bet on myself, that I can control! And second…you make your own luck, you’re not born with it. If that was the case I would’ve been successful a lot sooner than 6 years ago!” I knew he had probably heard that before; it’s not uncommon to hear people say that we make our own “luck.” But for some reason he actually paused, and seemed to think about the actual words. Maybe it was the sincerity with which he heard it, or maybe how I said it (since I really did mean it), but something dawned in him. He looked at me blankly for a second, then he simply responded: “You’re right. I guess I just haven’t been looking.”

“Luck”, at its base, is the essence of opportunity. Circumstances, decisions or relationships that present opportunities for our benefit. So how does one go about recognizing these things? My Vegas (almost) road-buddy hit it right on the head. We have to open our eyes, and Look.

“Lucky” people don’t have any mysterious or magical skills; they are simply adept at noticing, creating and most importantly, ACTING upon chance opportunities. They act on Intuition and are Optimists. They remain Open-Minded in times of struggle or uncertainty, and they maintain this Mindset constantly. If you think about it, simple reason would say: the more opportunities a person encounters (or creates) the more likely one is get favorable results. Right?

Everyday, it becomes easier for us to interact with one another. Ideas, energy and passions are exchanged and discussed. Ideas become reality. And People are actively creating the lives they wanted, helping those in need, inspiring those who are lost. Now, are all these people just “lucky”, or is something else in play? You tell me.

All my best,

Jay Kubassek

The World Cup. It has begun.

Every four years, the eyes, ears and hearts of billions turn to soccer. It’s not simply a tournament. I think it’s sort of a like a pageant of humanity. A global display where passion illuminates more of what we have in common, that what we don’t.

One cannot really speak about this World Cup without acknowledging the significance of it’s location, South Africa. The first cup on African soil. A place where they say the earth has turned red from bloodshed and tears, in an effort to UNITE.

South Africa, as the host nation, has chosen to underscore these games with the classical concept UBUNTU. Ubuntu (who’s origins are the Bantu languages of southern Africa) is a humanist philosophy that focuses on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. It is called the essence of being human.

Ubuntu is about our interconnectedness; how we can’t live in isolation. Yes, Facebook and Twitter have done great things to bring us closer together, but at the end of the day  it’s not how we get to each other, but how we treat each other once we get there. The technology of our age now asks that we extend those principles to the Internet. Our communication, our leadership and our commerce. The trust necessary for a collective prosperity. There’s a cool Zulu maxim which I will probably never be able to pronounce that goes: “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.” It means a person is, who they are, through others.

“A person is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
-Rev. Desmond Tutu

Open to others. Available to others. Affirming of others. Words to live by. Could we? For perhaps just one week? A day? An hour perhaps?

As the FIFA World Cup continues to capture the imagination of billions across the globe, we can’t help but beg the question: “if something as small a soccer ball can unite the world in celebration and peace, what else can we do?”

Hmmm…..

All my best,

Jay Kubassek

My sweet sister sent me this video for my birthday, just got around to watching it and I can’t even tell you… how incredible to see the capacity of a human to extract music out of thin air.

I never was what you would call an avid reader. I enjoyed it, found it to be an entertaining escape at times. But it wasn’t until I began my journey as an entrepreneur, I realized that the continued education I needed to get ahead, wasn’t going to magically come to me via osmosis (although that would be pretty sweet). It was going to take reading. A lot of reading.

The digitization of modern communication has put the written word front and center in our everyday lives. We are constantly texting, tweeting, emailing, bbm’ng, g-chatting and the like. I swear we probably write more with our thumbs than the rest of our hands! We all understand that our ability to effectively articulate our thoughts, solutions, expertise and sentiments are cardinal elements of any entrepreneurial business. Everyday we’ve got to create blog posts, ad copy, auto-responders, headlines, sub-headlines. All of which are crucial elements contributing to our success.

The process of improving how we communicate is invariably different for each person. But regardless of how it happens, it’s really just about doing it. You can’t work on your swing if you don’t go to the cages right? I was given a cool little book this past Christmas called The Elements of Style that has helped a ton with those annoying little grammar principles we often forget. Things like: its vs. it’s, when to use among vs. between, and all the dreaded rules about punctuation.

So… since I missed out on having a tweed-laden professor in corduroys with a constellation of crumbs in his beard teach me all these golden nuggets of grammar, I have this handy little text which I recommend.

It’s funny when you become a parent, and it’s time to help with homework, you realize school’s never really out. Keep improving everyone.

All my best,

Jay Kubassek

p.s. I found it online here: http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/style.html. But I would say grab it on Amazon so you can refer to it more readily when you have questions.

This past Friday the world of coaching lost its greatest titan. Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden quietly passed in Los Angeles, he was 99. Wooden became an icon leading the Bruins to an unprecedented 10 National Championships in the 1960s and ’70s (yep 10, in 12 years mind you). This past weekend saw a remarkable outpouring of memories, and the respectful remembrance of the inspiring Wooden inside and out of sports.

Wooden was an astoundingly prodigious leader and educator, building his dynasty on a foundation of simplistic precepts. His book Pyramid of Success has been advocated for decades by leaders of every variety. Wooden was a steward of meticulous preparation, and preached the perfection of details.

The first practice of each season, the coach famously would remind his players about pulling on socks smoothly and carefully lacing sneakers — he would allow no excuse for debilitating blisters (now that’s a detail!). Many urged him to copyright the pyramid for years, but Wooden refused feeling such things were not to be kept from people, rather they should be shared indiscriminately. A lesson we can all learn from.

Wooden was a true example of a life of service. A luminary leader who knew that leadership is not always rousing speeches from pulpits, but quiet whispers of guidance and support.

“It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.” John Wooden-

All my best,

Jay Kubassek