Creating ‘luck’: How strategic preparation meets opportunity

Out here in rural America, it’s easy to talk about luck. Good weather, good markets, good timing — when things go right, people often say, “We got lucky this year.”

But anyone who’s worked the land or run a small-town business knows better: luck might play a role, but it never works alone. Real success in agriculture — and in life out here — is when opportunity meets preparation.

That’s the part folks don’t always see. They see the bumper crop — not the early mornings, the equipment that breaks down and has to be repaired in the middle of a field in the sweltering heat, the books balanced late at night.

They see the “lucky break,” but not the years of experience, risk-taking and hard-earned knowledge that made it possible to recognize and seize the opportunity.

There’s a kind of delusion that can creep in when we believe success came from luck alone. It can make us complacent.

A good year leads us to think we’ve got it all figured out, but maybe it was just good rain, or a market that moved in our favor.

If we don’t stay humble and curious, we risk making bad decisions the next time the wind shifts — because it always does.

This also shows up when someone who’s had a streak of success in one area moves into another and assumes the same approach will work.

Maybe it’s a farmer trying his or her hand at a new crop, adding a new species of livestock, or a business owner trying to scale up. Without a willingness to listen, learn and adapt, they can get blindsided.

Success in one field doesn’t guarantee success in another — and confusing outcomes with ability can get expensive fast.

But the other kind of delusion is just as dangerous. It’s when you’ve done everything right — kept your nose to the grindstone, learned from your elders, invested in your farm, your family, your skills — and you still haven’t seen the payoff.

In those moments, it’s easy to feel like maybe you’re just not cut out for it. But that’s not always true. Sometimes, the opportunity just hasn’t come around yet.

The weather isn’t fair. The markets aren’t fair. And life, especially rural life, sure isn’t fair.

But readiness? That’s something you can control. You can’t make the rain come, but you can patch the roof before the storm.

You can’t force the market, but you can be smart about your inputs, your timing and your choices.

In this life, the ones who “get lucky” are usually the ones who stayed ready. They took the time to learn, to prepare, to do things right even when no one was watching.

And when the window opened — even briefly — they were ready to step through it.

So, keep showing up. Keep building. Keep learning. Because one day, the weather will cooperate, the market will turn, or someone will call with the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

And when they do, it won’t be luck. It’ll be the harvest of your readiness.