Learning how to get lucky can come from unexpected places.
When I was in secondary school, my dad used to buy Nigerian novels for me and my younger brother, Victor.
One day, he bought this novel for Victor’s birthday. The title was Arrow of God.
The book had too many pages for our age range at that time. And it had no pictures.
My brother easily ignored the book, but the title was too intriguing for me to leave it alone.
What is even the arrow of God? I opened the book and started reading.
And wow! I’d never read anything like that.
Getting Lucky by reading the arrow of God Novel
READING THE ARROW OF GOD NOVEL
The book is such a delightful read and it was written by Chinua Achebe, one of the best storytellers of modern African literature.
The novel focuses on Ezeulu, who is the High Priest of Ulu.
Ulu is the most important deity in the town of Umuaro, and this god brought together six warring villages to create a strong community that shares core values but preserves local village traditions.
The story begins with a bitter feud between the villages of Umuaro and Okperi. And as the story continues, everybody tries to take advantage of this feud for personal gains.
Personally, the most interesting part of the novel were the 3 sons of Ezeulu and their relationship with the father.
These sons each taught me 3 essential traits. There was a 4th trait from the last son that life eventually teach me, but we will get to that later.
Get Lucky: 4 Lessons from a Father
Son 1: Edogo
Be steady and dependable.
Edogo is Ezeulu’s oldest son and respectful to his father. He loves his wife and his child, constantly worrying about their health.
Even though, Edogo is steady and dependable, he gets little respect from the people of Umuaro. Edogo was not flashy.
Son 2: Obika
Show agility and passion when working with people.
Obika, Ezeulu’s 2nd son is admired by the village people for his beauty and quickness. Though his father chides him and complains about him—in particular his love of drink—Ezeulu still respects Obika’s strength and masculinity.
However, Obika dies as a young man as a result of over-exerting himself during a religious ritual.
Son 3: Oduche
Know where you are coming from and where you are going to.
Oduche is Ezeulu’s middle son with his favorite wife – Ugoye. Ezeulu sends Oduche to the missionary school at the church with the hopes that Oduche will become fluent in the ways and religion of the white man, enabling him to function as a knowledgeable informant and emissary.
Instead, Oduche becomes attracted to Christianity, and nearly kills the holy python which represents one of the gods of the village.
Son 4: Nwafo
Like I said, we will get to this son’s lesson later.
Whilst still reading this novel, I realize that Ezeulu was immensely prideful. Even though there are other proud powerful men, Ezeulu is so full of pride to the detriment of himself and his people.
In Umuaro, the people cannot harvest the yams until Ezeulu has called the New Yam Feast to give thanks to Ulu.
Yet, he refuses to call the feast despite being implored by other important men in the village to compromise.
The yams begin to rot in the field, and a famine ensues for which the village blames Ezeulu.
Because of this, many of the villagers lost their faith in Ezeulu, embracing Christianity instead. Rather than starve, the villagers flock to the church to make offerings to the Christian God.
That taught me the 4th trait – Don’t underestimate your luck and position in life.
Get Lucky
The last son – Nwafo was Ezeulu’s favorite and was naturally interested in the priestly duties.
He was heavily favored to inherit the title and responsibilities of High Priest of Ulu.
Above the other sons. Simply because of luck and positioning.
Speaking of luck, I deeply resonate from this excerpt from Naval.
He talks about how to get lucky and the four different kinds of luck:
How to Get Lucky and the Four Different Kinds of Luck
- Blind luck. The first kind of luck you might say is blind luck. Where I just got lucky because something completely out of my control happened. That’s fortune, that’s fate.
- Luck from hustling. Then there’s luck that comes through persistence, hard work, hustle, motion. Which is when you’re running around creating lots of opportunities, you’re generating a lot of energy, you’re doing a lot of things, lots of things will get stirred up in the dust.
- Luck from preparation. A third way is that you become very good at spotting luck. If you are very skilled in a field, you will notice when a lucky break happens in that field. When other people who aren’t attuned to it won’t notice. So you become sensitive to luck and that’s through skill and knowledge and work.
- Luck from your unique character. Then the last kind of luck is the weirdest, hardest kind. Which is where you build a unique character, a unique brand, a unique mindset, where then luck finds you. You created your own luck. You put yourself in a position to be able to capitalize on that luck. Or to attract that luck when nobody else has created that opportunity for themselves.
Make Luck Your Destiny. Build your character in a way that luck becomes deterministic.
Summary:
- Be steady and dependable.
- Show agility and passion when working with people.
- Know where you are coming from and where you are going to.
- Don’t underestimate your luck and position in life. Keep building on it.
