07. The Law of Accident

Under the Laws of Success

Life is a series of random occurrences and things just happen by accident.

This law is really a psychological principle that is accepted without question by most people, thereby making it a law for them. If you believe something to be true, even if it is completely false, you will think and feel in such a way that it will be true for you.

The first corollary of this law is
By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.

No one actually plans deliberately to fail. No one decides in advance to live a life of underachievement and frustration, but by failing to decide exactly what you want, you end up living unconsciously and unintentionally by the Law of Accident. Then, what happens to you in life will appear to be a series of random occurrences over which you have little control.

People who live by the Law of Accident say things like "You can’t fight city hall." "It’s not what you know, it’s who you know." "Success is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time." These people usually believe that success is largely due to luck and circumstances and that it has very little to do with themselves. They are living by the Law of Accident.

To show how prevalent this attitude is, in a recent survey, 63 percent of respondents said that they believed that the only way they were going to be able to retire financially independent was if they won a lottery of some kind. This means that the majority of people think that their financial lives are simply a great gamble in which they exert very little control. They are living by accident.

A well-known national politician, a member of Congress, said recently, referring to successful people in general, "Those who have done well at the gaming table of life should be forced to share their winnings with those who have not been so fortunate." This kind of thinking encourages more and more people to believe that life is just a game of chance. They live by the Law of Accident, believing that they are victims of circumstance and that there is nothing they can do to help themselves.

People who live by the Law of Accident tend to be negative, pessimistic, and helpless and feel as though they have little control over their lives.

People living under the shadow of the Law of Accident blame others for their problems. They continually make excuses, perform well below their potentials, and indulge in various forms of escapism, such as endless television watching, alcohol, drugs, and aimless socializing.

The wonderful thing about goals is that the very act of setting goals frees you from living under the Law of Accident and puts you squarely under the Law of Control and the Law of Cause and Effect. The setting of goals gives you a feeling of power, purpose, and forward direction. Goal setting puts you in charge of your life and makes you feel terrific about yourself.

This is why goal setting is called the "master skill" of success. It is the one skill that is probably more important to your overall happiness and well-being than any other skill that you can develop. It puts you in the driver’s seat.

How you can apply this law immediately:

1. Identify the areas of your business life where you feel dissatisfied and you feel that there is nothing you can do about it. What one change could you make that would put you back in control? Whatever your answer, resolve to do something about it today.

2. Take action immediately to assert control over the situations in your life that are causing you to feel trapped and frustrated. If you could wave a magic wand and have complete power to change any condition or situation in your life, what would it be and what would you change?

Source: Brian Tracy, The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, (San Francisco, 2000).