The short story goes like this… Rob goes to see his beloved Washington Nationals play baseball and lightening strikes in the second inning. No, the Nats didn’t score – they rarely do. Lightening strikes by way of a screaming foul ball that travels fifty feet over Rob’s head, crashes off the stadium facing, whistles back over another 50 rows of seats, and on the fly sticks like glue into a shocked Rob’s right hand… and Rob is left handed!

26,716 fans at the game, and Rob gets to put a check mark on his bucket list next to “Catch foul ball at baseball game.” Pretty lucky, huh? It sure looks that way, but after a more careful examination, maybe it wasn’t quite as lucky as you would think.

1. Coincidently, when I was in fourth grade, I created a simple game of catch against my parent’s brick bedroom wall. Without anyone to play catch with, I would toss a ball against that wall for hours on end. To this day, I sometimes take a tennis ball outside and play a game of toss with myself, against the brick wall of my house. I guess you could say I am an expert at catching balls off of walls.
2. Coincidently, as a left-handed person, I actually catch with my right hand. I guess you could say I caught a break, having that ball slicing towards my right.
3. Coincidently, three years ago, I had my only other chance of catching a foul ball not end up so well. It was a much easier, lazy foul ball that sought me out as if it wanted to go home with me. Unfortunately, on that particular day, I wasn’t prepared to bring home a new baseball. As I rose to catch it, I made one, small tactical error: I forgot to put down my aluminum bottle of beer, and watched helplessly as the ball landed perfectly on top of my bottle and flew twenty rows behind me. At least I didn’t drop my bottle of beer. I have never forgotten, however, how ill prepared I was at that moment, and I vowed to make sure I would be ready if another chance ever presented itself. I guess you could say that I learned through my mistake.

Do you see a pattern here? What looked like a fluky situation wasn’t quite as fluky as it appeared. Many obstacles that face us, on a day-to-day basis, may appear to be controlled by chance. Yet, there are steps we can take to increase our chances for success. For instance:

1. Practice. It’s no secret that the more we practice, the better we perform in pressure situations. As a matter of fact, the more we practice, the greater the chances are that we will instinctively make the right moves under pressure. It was no coincidence that I had instinctively turned and was waiting for that ball to come back off that wall, while everyone else was watching the ball sail over their heads.
2. Preparation. I knew I had room to my left before that ball flew over my head because, in a way, I had scouted it out. It was no coincidence that I was able slide over while not taking my eyes off the ball.
3. Focus. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you how deeply disappointed I was three years ago when I was caught unprepared. To this day, if I have a beer, a hot dog, or peanuts in my hands while the game is being played, I make sure that the food is in the bag, plate, or holder during pitches. It was no coincidence that although I really am a fun guy to go to the ballgame with, I’m also focused and aware of what’s going on in the game.

So, does practice, preparation, and focus guarantee you’ll be successful in all your endeavors? No, of course not. But it is also fair to say that these actions can certainly increase your chances for success. Was catching that foul ball a fluke occurrence? I guess so, but I’d like to think I did the best I could to increase my chances for success. Who knows when an odd moment of chance might come your way. Assuming it’s a meaningful moment, have you done the things you need to take advantage of it?