I think it's not prepared. More like a willingness to be open to possibilities. Preparation assume you know something good is coming and can prepare now to face it. Those kind of events are probably not that life changing. Of course there are exceptions.
But best things in life come from opportunities that you cannot prepare for in advance. Just willingness to accept it.
Perhaps pedantic, but "prepared mind" includes your meaning. Prepared may mean being equipped with a skill that meets the moments, but flexibility, acceptance and optimism are also skills of a prepared mind.
It's why the quote has survived since 1854.
> "dans les champs de l'observation, le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés" ("In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind")
I don't think it is pedantic at all. A prepared mind is exactly what is needed to take advantage of opportunity. Prepared mentally denotes a state of mind where you are actively looking for opportunities and that allows you to notice them. It is an attitude, really. Not unlike being a Stoic is an attitude on gratefulness of life and acceptance of death.
I used to think the same (and still have regrets about missed opportunities, ie sleepwalking them). But then I think that I'm probably disregarding some other opportunities that I did take and just forgot about them because "For it falls out That what we have we prize not to the worth ..."
But however you want to spin it, there’s still the underlying luck, that you survived until that moment, that you were able to reach that place and that you were free to venture there are all inputs you didn’t have much or any control over. There’s no shame in it. I’ve achieved a good deal in a half century of life and much of it was via hard work and guile, but I do tend to think of myself as lucky because, even as a middle-class kid back when the US had that, where my starting blocks were placed on the track was far enough ahead of the bulk of the pack that these things became achievable.
I like to call it "Exposing yourself to luck." You can't win lottery if you never play. Play the lottery with the best odds and play it as much as you can.
I think it’s just trying to be exposed to as many opportunities as possible with the best tools you can have. You can’t determine whether or not you can catch a fish, but you can acquire the best fish-catching tools you can get, try to get to the fullest river, and stay out there as long as you can. I think the role of “luck” really hits when you realize how some people are born on the side of the river with a gigantic, well-made net.
You won't always be right but you can be there often enough to matter. goals need to be reasoneble - the luck needed to be a billionair is unlikely, but if you settle for millionair that luck is likely if you invest your money in the right place.
