Once upon a time I thought it would be fun to….

I lie. I thought it would be lucrative to jump on the success coach wagon. You know which wagon I mean. The one carting around those Steps to Success.

Lucky for me, and maybe you, I remembered nonsense. And that nonsense is always at work. Specifically, I remembered that what is nonsense to me might be sense to you. And vice versa.

Meaning? That what I see as success might not be what you see as success. Thus, my steps to success might be your steps to failure.

And so I did not jump. I watched that wagon roll by, again and again, on its seemingly endless circular journey. But although I did not join the wagon train, I cannot help but give bits of random advice. Like the one below. (Please forgive me.)

Let’s talk about rolling stones and golf balls. Did you know you can copy exactly what a successful person did, that you can follow their recipe for success to the letter, that you can do everything ‘right’ and you might still fail?

That is because you can never duplicate the exact environment in which the previous success materialized. Furthermore, our planet is blessed with a dollop of randomness, which we call ‘accidents’ or ‘luck’, depending on what happened to us.

Wise and successful people know this and will, like Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, explain their success as largely due to luck. Which is why they are not seduced into selling recipes for success.

If success is random, should you give up trying to succeed? No. But you should stop trying so hard. Relax and enjoy yourself playing to succeed. Be like the famous golfer Gary Player. He said, “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.