Playing the Lottery

As another school year rolls around, thoughts wander (and wonder) as to whether there aren’t any shortcuts to a cushy job in the future.

Or at least one that’ll guarantee a Ferrari!! Hey, if you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. In the world around us, there’re a lot of dreamers. Millions of people buy lottery tickets religiously.
The lottery is one of the few ‘sure things’ in the business world. Some of those people probably buy tickets every day, hoping it’ll be their lucky day. And dream of what they’ll do with the money.
Now while it’s all well and good to dream – one has to have a sense of proportion about the chances of the dream coming true. Should we leave it all to luck, fate, destiny – call it what you will – or do we depend on good old fashioned, blood sweat and tears? Every day, people take their chances on luck – much like buying lotto tickets.
As students, we do it every day also. The night before an exam, when we’re up late studying because we left everything so last minute, we skip topics because we’re taking the chance that the topic mightn’t come on the exam.
And more often than not, after the exam we moan “if only we’d studied harder”!! It’s always tempting to take the easy way out – leave it to fate. It’s not something only kids and students do – everyone tries to take that route at one time or the other. How many times haven’t you chosen to avoid an issue, or to take what someone says at face- value instead of confronting them?
Believing that luck would somehow make everything ok is a seemingly easier road to tread than putting in solid hard work.
But there has to be some truth in the saying, “You sow what you reap” – Karma’s been around for eternity, after all.
So it’s safe to say that expecting to reap a Ferrari after you sowed a tricycle, is borderline insanity at best.
While it’s good to believe that “everything will be alright”, your “happy ending” might have a bit of some unpleasant twists if you end up unemployed because back in the days you decided that caring about doing well in school just wasn’t a big deal.
Playing the lottery to make a big score – in any aspect of life, as a quick fix to solve your problems is at bottom, a cop out. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with your future.
For us young people, while taking steps to further our education, or learning new job skills, or looking for a good job will be more difficult than just laying back, it’ll be a way better investment. It’s more of a sure thing.
With school opening next week, and the recent release of exam results, many students may be rethinking their approach to school. While luck’s always welcome, it’s always better to improve your odds of success through your own efforts.
Ultimately, we will become what we make of ourselves.
Good Luck!