Coincidences Aren't Lucky

If someone achieves something amazing they often say “I was in the right place at the right time” implying that it could have been anyone, it just happened to be them. And as things start to domino and grow into massive opportunities we all look back at the lucky breaks we caught to get there.

I want to focus on one word in particular that relates to all of this, but in understanding it we flip this whole thought on its head. Coincidence. What does it actually mean if something is a coincidence?

The root words built into the word are “co” meaning together and “incident” meaning occurrence, which means that two things are happening at the same time. But then when we think of the word coincidence there’s an element of luck, chance, and randomness built into it. Why can’t coincidence happen by design?

As David Meltzer puts it, this new form of “designed” coincidence is the combination of attention and intention. Attention helps you to know that something is happening, and intention helps direct where it will happen! When these two elements are applied, you’ll find coincidences start to multiply, and you know that it’s not random.

I can describe it this way too. Arnonld Palmer, a legendary golfer, once said, “It’s a funny thing. The more I practice, the luckier I get”. We can clearly see the correlation between his practice and generating positive results. He attributes those results to luck, but is that really the cause? The same goes for coincidences, they might seem lucky, but they’re really a response to the foundation you’ve laid for two things to occur together in a magical way.