What makes this observation remarkable is its quiet refusal of the distinction between waiting and working—Lincoln doesn't imagine chance as something that arrives to rescue the unprepared, but rather as the meeting point where readiness encounters circumstance. Most people either prepare anxiously for a specific future they can't predict, or they drift in idle hope; Lincoln suggests a third way: steady readiness without knowing the shape it will take. A musician who practices daily without a record deal in sight understands this viscerally: when an unexpected collaboration or opportunity surfaces, their prepared hands are already capable. The power lies not in optimism about the future, but in the dignity of making yourself equal to whatever moment actually arrives.