This morning I read a comment on one of my posts at LinkedIn and I thought to reply at blog.
“You have to be lucky to get ahead in life. He was lucky he got job in a dream company. His luck favored him all his life. You have got to be lucky to earn money online. He started business from garage and built an empire. He was lucky”
These are the common sentences I often read at social media. In this blog article, I would shatter the common myths attached with word LUCK and how to be ridiculously lucky. You all know my story. You all know where I started my life from. There was time in my life when I was struggling for two times meals. With the humblest background and early schooling from roofless and ghost schools of rural Pakistan, I dared to gate-crash the Ivy League of Pakistan (IBA Karachi) to earn MBA degree. Did luck favor me? Yes. What is luck and how to be lucky? I will explain in the following paragraphs.
After high school exams, some of my friends and peers were playing cricket, some were playing marbles, some were playing cards and some were engaged in cheap talks like who had affair with whom. But I was constructing my luck. My teacher said, “Ashraf, focus on English language. It will unlock tremendous opportunities in life.” I took his words to my heart. I had three months time before result of Matriculation exam. I bought around 30 kilograms of old newspapers of English daily Pakistan Times (this paper has closed its publication now). I read 30 kgs of old newspapers in 3 months; built my vocabulary; learned how to weave stories; how to evoke emotions; how to write so that others can read. I was 15 years old boy filled with magma. I built this foundation in 1984 (the year I appeared in high school examination). In 1990, I was sitting in MBA class at IBA Karachi. This rough and rustic boy coming from dirty and dusty village of rural Pakistan competed with thousands of Mummy Daddies and Burgers of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. I secured 23 marks out of 25 in vocabulary portion of IBA Admission Test alone. People say I am lucky. Yes, I am. My dogged persistence, laser-sharp focus on goals and my passion to break comfort traps make me lucky every day.
My story as Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer is even more interesting. Would you like to know?
In August 2008, I was General Manager Sales with one of the biggest business conglomerates of Pakistan. I was terminated from job. Was it bad luck? No! That was the best thing that ever happened to me. At the age of 39, I took initiative to start my sales training business. People were laughing at me when I started claiming Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer as soon as I launched myself in the training industry. It was tough time. Pakistan’s economy was in a shambles. Terrorism was at its peak. To make both ends meet, I was ghost-writing articles for a CEO of an NGO (articles were being published in Express Tribune under his name). I was getting measly sum of Rs. 25000 ($230) per quarter!!! Today, I have 15 content writers in my team. I did not quit. I did not lose my focus. Today, everybody knows who Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer is. I have trained people from SMEs to MNCs and from NGOs to ISPR. I am the most sought-after sales trainer in Pakistan. What made me lucky? Here is my three point secret. Brutally follow it. Everybody can be lucky.
- Persistence
The role model of role models, Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) took 13 years to convert 125 people to new ideology, Islam. Then comes Tipping Point. In next 10 years, his followers were in millions. Never quit.
- Laser-sharp Focus
F.O.C.U.S (Follow One Course Until Success)
- Break Comfort Traps
Take initiatives. Roll up your sleeves. Get dirty. Get things done. Haters will hate. Mockers will mock. You will win. Let the haters stalk your social media.
Special Note:
- Is your CV worthy of getting you interview calls? We will evaluate your CV FREE OF CHARGE. Just email us your current CV at [email protected] and you will get evaluation in 48 hours. In case, you don’t get evaluation, please follow up through WhatsApp/SMS at +92 302 8356228
- Download The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF”. It is free for friends. Just send blank email at [email protected]. You will get the link in less than 5 seconds (do check your spam folder as well).
- Join Ashraf Chaudhry at Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for networking, job alerts and daily motivation.
- For sales trainings, key-note motivational sessions and one-to-one Purple Arrow Coaching, please WhatsApp/SMS at +92 323 2470 890 or email at [email protected]
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