The Surprising Link Between Luck and Success: How to Increase Your Chances of Both
Mindset Monday
Takeaway: Luck is an uncontrollable force that influences the outcome of a person’s life. But luck is not entirely unpredictable, as we can take specific actions to increase the odds of luck working in our favor. This occurs in two ways: decreasing luck-destroying actions while increasing luck-inducing actions.
Luck is the uncontrollable and unpredictable force that determines the outcomes of events or circumstances in a person’s life.
It’s often associated with chance or probability, and it is often attributed to factors beyond an individual's control, such as fate, destiny, or divine intervention.
Luck, to some degree, is responsible for the status of every successful person you know. Often a product of right time, right place—regardless if the beneficiary is aware of it or willing to acknowledge its role.
The truth is that luck is not entirely unpredictable.
We can’t pinpoint, like a math equation, when and how strong the effect of luck will be in a specific context.
But we can take actions that increase the likelihood of luck benefiting us.
Author Sahil Bloom calls it, “increasing your luck surface area.”
The chances of you getting lucky with a new job opportunity while sitting on your couch watching Netflix? Nil.
The chances of you getting lucky with a new job opportunity when you’re out networking and meeting new people? Significantly higher.
There are two ways to increase your luck surface area:
Decrease the number of opportunities for luck to be destroyed.
Increase the number of opportunities for luck to present itself.
Luck-destroying actions include:
Sitting at home alone watching mindless TV. Time to unwind and decompress is necessary. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional mindless TV. Be sure to balance this with activities that contribute to luck—reading, learning new skills, seeking new experiences, conversing with interesting people, etc.
Spending too much time around pessimists and negative thinking. As Bloom says, “Pessimists sound smart. Optimist get lucky.” Spend more time around positive, encouraging, motivated individuals. These are the people that get lucky, and by association you’ll be luckier too.
Being too close-minded. Be open to new ideas and perspectives. Sometimes to solve a problem you have to see it from a different angle. The more perspectives you engage with, the better view of the problem you’ll have.
Not taking any risks. There is no success without some risk. If you can learn to discern risk that favors the outcomes you want, versus gambling when the odds are against you, then you can take calculated risks that minimize the potential downside.
To identify actions that increase the probability of luck, we simply need to look at the inverse of the previous actions.
Luck-inducing actions include:
Set aside time to be alone with your thoughts. This could be a walk, time spent with a journal or notebook, or any other activity that allows you the ability to think. This helps you process and identify new ideas and opportunities that were previously invisible.
Frequently conversing with interesting people who freely share ideas. Usually optimists, these individuals are driven to accomplish their goals and to find creative solutions to the problems they face. These individuals can challenge you to think bigger, more creatively, and help you excel toward your own goals.
Don’t just be open to new experiences, go out and find them. New experiences expose you to new skills, people, ideas, and opportunities. The more often you insert yourself into these different bubbles, the greater your chances of getting lucky. But you have to be proactive in finding them.
Take calculated risks. As mentioned above, some risk is better than others. Betting all your savings on a risky stock that you don’t control isn’t smart and doesn’t increase your chances of being lucky. Putting yourself in front of an audience to give a presentation is risky, but you have more control over whether you impress the audience members. Choose your risks carefully, but don’t play it too safe.
If you want to begin increasing your luck surface area, start by picking any one of the behaviors above and become consistent with that action in your life. Over time you can begin to add more luck-inducing actions into your routine.
With enough persistence and consistency it’ll be impossible for you not to get lucky.
~ Coach Alex