A lot of success in life is chalked up to luck by people on the outside. The biggest issue with this thought process is that when people assume luck drives success, they lose the incentive to find ways to increase luck on their own. Andy Frisella said in one of his recent podcasts that ‘when people start to talk about luck… when they begin to include luck in their equation for success… they start to bank on it’. What people fail to realize is that a majority of luck is a byproduct of your own actions.
You often see people in the world who seemingly never have any issues, who seem to always be presented with external opportunities, and who always seem to have life figured out. Life doesn’t seem to be throwing the same haymakers at this person that it throws at you, so what are they doing differently? Are they doing something to keep karma on their side? Are they superstitious? Did they sacrifice an animal? What makes them so lucky?
It turns out that the answer to this question is fairly loaded. According to neurologist Dr. James Austin in his book ‘Chase, Chance & Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty’, there are four types of luck: Blind luck, Luck from Awareness, Luck from Uniqueness & Luck from Motion.
The default form of luck that everyone tends to defer to is ‘blind luck’. Blind luck is luck that is completely out of your control. Blind luck comes with zero effort on the recipient’s side – This is the type of luck I was alluding to in the first few paragraphs. When looking for ways to make yourself ‘luckier’, this is not the form of luck to focus on. There is no point in spending time & effort worried about this luck because there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t help when, where, or how you are born. You can’t help the genes you are given. Although some of these ‘luck of the draw’ qualities have a drastic effect on your life, they do not fully determine your life. Instead of worrying about this type of luck, focus on the type of luck you actually do have a say in.
The second type of luck mentioned is Luck from awareness. This luck is characterized by developing the ability to ‘spot’ luck. The truth is luck often presents itself far more than you think… but not everyone notices it. In order to capitalize on luck from awareness, you have to make yourself aware. The best strategy for this is to increase your depth of knowledge in various areas so that when opportunities arise in these areas, you know to take advantage of them. When someone purchases stock in a company early on and that company ends up blowing up, people often attribute that to blind luck. The reality is, that person most likely knew the industry the company was involved in, saw the opportunity in what they were doing and decided to take advantage of it. Any person could have purchased stock in that company, but that person was aware of the opportunity. Increase your horizons, increase your awareness.
The third type of luck Dr. Austin mentions is Luck by uniqueness. This luck is somewhat of an outlier because this form of luck is due to luck finding you. This type of luck often comes later in life and is a function of everything you have done prior. An example of this type of luck would be if a field in which you are well-versed in grows rapidly after you have already left it. An executive of a company in this industry may come to you for expertise, advice, or even job opportunities. This ‘luck’ occurred because your skills and experiences were unique. In James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’, he says that every decision you make today is a vote for the person you want to be in the future. If you want to benefit from luck by uniqueness in the future, make decisions today that make yourself unique.
The final type of luck, and the one that inspired this post, is Luck from motion. This is the type of luck that is typically the hardest to earn, and that some people don’t like to believe exists. In a previous post of mine, I discussed the idea of luck being the moment when preparation meets opportunity. Similarly, in a recent podcast by Sahil Bloom discussing this same concept, he says that your motion creates ‘collisions’ in the universe that are byproducts of your hustle and energy. These ‘collisions’, to me, are the collision of preparation and opportunity. In order to increase your luck from motion, you have to repeatedly and continuously put in the work. One of my favorite quotes regarding this type of luck is by Ray Kroc and it states that ‘Luck is the Dividend of Sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get’. Put in the work, create some sweat, and cash in on the dividends.
The beauty of ‘luck’ is that a majority of it is within your control, with the exception being blind luck. Luck from awareness requires you to intentionally make yourself more aware. Luck from uniqueness requires you to put in the effort to develop unique skills. Luck from motion requires you to develop good habits and physically do the work required to put yourself in opportunities to succeed. There is one quality that can be trained that will simultaneously increase your potential for all types of luck: discipline. I’ve said it a thousand times and I will say it a thousand more – discipline is a tangible superpower. Through positive habits & acquired discipline, you can become more aware, you can become more unique, and you can continuously stay in motion. Through positive habits & discipline, you can create your own ‘luck’.
With all that being said, I’m not saying that some people aren’t luckier than others and that luck isn’t real. Blind luck is painfully real and some people benefit from it more than others. All I am saying is that it may take luck to win the lottery, but hard work, good habits & discipline buys you a hell of a lot more lottery tickets.
Increase your odds. Buy some more lottery tickets. Learn to get lucky.
