Easy to say for a guy who has gotten pretty much his first choice for everything since day 1.
Standard caveat: My information/experience is admittedly dated, but all of it tells me that, by and large, folks make their own luck.
Is "timing" significant? You bet.
[Vignette: One of my better friends in the Navy and, as it turns out, in life (spoiler alert: we shared a near-death experience together), used to laugh and tell the story of how when he was approaching "winging" many years ago, there were, for several weeks, no F-8 slots avail. So...for several weeks, he would go and go have a wart removed from his hand, and be shortly "bumped" to the next week. Long story short, after about three wart removals, he got to select Crusaders. Not that anyone else cares, but he got to go where he wanted, and will forever be one of those Tomcat guys who started out as a "MiG Master", "F-8s Forever", by-Gawd Crusader pilot.]
Is "performance" even more critical? Every day and twice on Sunday. Those who earn what they want (timing aside...see above) GET what they want.
What's with all the JOPA blue on blue? Can we get back to hating on dirty hinges?
I guess I agree with the blonde dude...not that I'm into blonde dudes, you understand...