Are you a lucky person? Do ideas and opportunities just seem to jump into your lap? Or do things like that only happen to other people?
Sometimes it’s worth taking a chance
When Carmel won a free trip for two to Los Angeles in 2012, some of her friends said she was lucky.
A few weeks beforehand, she rang up her local radio station (106.3 FM) to enter the competition. When she later heard her name announced on air, she responded within the required one hour timeframe – as did 74 other ‘lucky’ people.
The winner was to be randomly selected from this pool one fateful Friday evening. All Carmel had to do was to attend the draw in person and be available to travel on the non-negotiable dates (as it included tickets to attend Elton John’s Academy Awards Viewing Party).
If Carmel won, it would be her first trip overseas – but neither she nor her husband had a passport at the time.
Carmel worked out that it would be too late to apply for an Australian passport if she waited until the Monday after the draw (as it would take at least ten working days to process). So she applied for an express passport on the morning of the draw – with no guarantee that she would win.
After returning from this ‘experience of a lifetime’, Carmel told her Facebook friends: “… this is proof that we average everyday people CAN WIN!!! Go start entering NOW!! Good luck to everyone!!”
Do you think Carmel was lucky? Would you have paid AU$336 for an express passport with those odds?
And what would you say to Carmel’s husband who chose not apply for a passport because he didn’t believe that she would win?
Be prepared to make your own luck
Good fortune tends to smile on people who recognise and act on opportunities. You never know when you might chance upon a world-changing idea, a break-through technology, or even a free overseas trip.
Photo credits: Carmel Geier (Reproduced with permission)
Categories: Personal development, Travel
Sustainability soapbox 
There are moments indeed that we ‘know’ deep inside us what is about to happen. Adding enthusiasm in her ‘knowing’ and asking for passport was fantastic 🙂 Well done.
Thank you for sharing this story Pip!
Interesting – I’m not sure if she sensed it or was just being very pragmatic (as in what was the point of entering if she couldn’t get a passport in time). I’ll ask her when we catch up. Either way, it’s a good reminder to all of us to think positive and expect good things to happen