Flukes in straight lines

Most success stories sound like majestic masteries of fate and fortune…

…where an individual knew where to be, what to do, and how to be brilliant, every step of the way.

But we know this isn’t the case.

We can draw straight lines through trend lines and trailing indicators. They’re neat, tidy, and are great for making stories out of in retrospect.

Those lines don’t capture the flukes.

The lucky guesses.

The “I’ve no idea how that happened but this is awesome” moments.

These things make lousy stories. So they get left out.

But if you’re working on something important, something great, something exciting… and things don’t perpetually go right for you… remember:

Flukes are part of the story, and they don’t happen in neat, straight lines.

The straight lines only emerge afterwards.