Luck is the meeting of preparation and opportunity. I learned that important lesson years ago from the former First Lady of the United States.

Regardless of your political view, my encounter with Michelle Obama literally changed my life. After being invited to one of her community speeches, one of the local news reporters invited me to the media area to be introduced to the First Lady. The reporter had recently published a story about me, and he thought it would be great for Mrs. Obama to learn about my contributions to the community.

After talking for about ten minutes, the First Lady seemed super impressed. “Do you have a copy of one of your books with you?” she asked. I froze. I did not.

“Why don’t you have a book with you, Raven?” she continued. “You’re a young author with a great story. You should always have some within reach.”

I quickly had a thought. “My mom has some books in her car,” I explained (as if the First Lady was going to wait for me to run out to the car). “I could run and get you one.” She smiled and said that she would wait. I ran 20 mph in my 6″ heels, praying that her security wouldn’t whisk her away before I had the chance to get back.

When I got back inside the facility, I handed her the book. “Aren’t you going to sign it to me?” she asked. I did. “Don’t let this happen again,” she joked. Then she wished me good luck on all of my endeavors.

That experience truly taught me that luck is the meeting of preparation and opportunity. Quite honestly, opportunities are useless if we are not prepared for them. Who would’ve thought I’d get to have a legitimate conversation with the First Lady of the United States? And who would’ve thought she’d ask me for an autographed copy of one of my books? Regardless of how far-fetched the idea seemed, it actually happened. And I wasn’t prepared.

From that moment forward, I have always made it a point to be ready for every opportunity that comes my way. I would never want to miss out on a new level of success, simply because I am being too lazy to properly prepare.

Will you be ready for your opportunity when it arrives? If the answer is no, then you have some work to do!

Have a great rest of the week!!!! 🙂
Raven