Four ways to get lucky

I’ve long struggled with the concept of luck.

I look at my life and can’t help but feel incredibly fortunate.

I’ve worked hard. Just not always hard enough for the incredible life I get to live.

Clearly, a huge reason for that is privilege. Beyond that, understanding luck is helpful for us all if we are to cultivate more of it.

Lucky #1: Dumb luck.

I’ve never bought a lottery ticket.

There’s a 1 in 45 million chance of hitting the jackpot on the UK lottery.

I’ve never liked those odds.

Yet, if you buy a ticket, there is an undeniable chance that you could win.

There’s no skill involved. You’re waiting for luck to come knocking on your door.

Privilege is, in many ways, dumb luck. Where you’re born, what family you’re born into, the world you find yourself living in. It’s out of your control.

Lucky #2: Fortune favours the brave.

Starting a business puts the odds in your favour.

Statistically, your business will likely fail.

Almost 60% of businesses started in the UK will be gone within 5 years.

The odds are against you (although still better than winning the lottery).

What you’ll likely find if you speak to successful business owners is that they haven’t started just one business. They’ve tried and failed. Then tried again.

They take action, and put in the work, even in the face of failure.

They make it easier for luck to find them.

In my late teens/early twenties I was doing just that. Starting, failing, and trying again.

Lucky #3: Fortune favours the brave mind.

Back then, I was also preparing myself.

Studying other businesses that were in industries I couldn’t break into.

Building a network that I could call on if and when I was ready.

With no money to my name, my interest in the property industry seemed to others like a dream, or possibly a delusion.

One day, through the action I had been taking, and the network I had built, I found someone who wanted help investing in property in my local area.

My mind was prepared. I had done my research.

I was ready and waiting for the moment luck knocked on my door.

Lucky #4: Extreme people get extreme results.

And so, as we’ve learned above, you can… take a chance and spin the wheel (playing the lottery), you can take calculated risks that involve hard work (starting businesses), and you can get ready for the day when luck comes knocking (prepare yourself).

The final type of luck is the most powerful. The odds are in your favour, there’s very little/no risk, and luck doesn’t just come knocking… you make sure luck gets hand delivered to your door.

Simply be the best at what you do.

Keep working on what you do until this is true.

Opportunity will seek you out.

Instead of waiting for luck to arrive, luck becomes your destiny.

Thank you to Naval and Nivi for massively influecing my thinking on all of this.