Tony is lucky. He admits it. Things seem to always turn out right for him. He met the right life partner, his kids are awesome, he got lucky when he got the job, etc.
Why do some people seem to have it all? Why does luck seem to strike the same people over and over again?
Sometimes, we are tempted to think that some people are just lucky, that luck is outside our circle of influence.
I believe you can attract luck consistently, like Tony.
The Truth About Luck
Ray Kroc, the man who brought McDonald’s to the world, didn’t believe in luck.
He spent a lot of years working as a salesman before finding the McDonald brothers. It’s easy to think that Ray got lucky because he met the brothers.
But Kroc worked extremely hard to open hundreds of McDonald’s branches across the US. The McDonald brothers didn’t have the vision, but he had it.
And the rest was history.
“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” - Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc increased his luck by working hard and by thinking smarter.
This means that luck is simply the result of your actions. In other words, you can be lucky by adopting the right habits.
Tilting the Odds in Your Favor
Dr. Richard Wiseman, author of the book titled “The Luck Factor”, said that people aren’t born lucky or unlucky, and that in order to have good luck, you need to have the right attitude.
Wiseman conducted intensive interviews and experiments with over 400 volunteers. After 10 years of studying what makes other people lucky, he concluded that luck is something that can be learned.
“Lucky people just try stuff. Unlucky people suffered from paralysis by analysis. They wouldn’t do anything until they walked through every single angle and by then the world had moved on. They don’t gain the benefits of learning through doing. I’m a big fan of starting small, trying lots of projects, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and iterating based on feedback.” - Richard Wiseman.
The truth is you can increase your luck by learning the habits of successful people.
You can improve your “luck score” by following the steps that they took to achieve effectiveness in all areas of their life.
Here are some ways to tilt the odds in your favor.
9 Ways to Increase Your Luck
1. Believe That You’re Lucky
As strange as it sounds, believing that you are lucky makes you more likely to be receptive to the opportunities around you.
Believing that you are lucky changes your perspective.
Try to pay attention when you actually get lucky, pause and acknowledge it. Soon, you will realize you are luckier than you thought.
2. Be Clear About Your Goals and Voice them
Why should you be clear about your goals? Because it makes you more aware of opportunities around you related to these goals.
And if you voice your goals to people around you, they will more likely bring you opportunities relevant to you and your goals.
Keep your goals in the top of your mind, perhaps scribbled in a notebook or stored in a tool like Week Plan and review them regularly.
3. Be Open to Opportunities
Sometimes, opportunities knock at your door but you are too scared to open the door.
Sometimes you need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone in order to accept luck into your life.
4. Surround Yourself With The Right People
Lucky people have the right people in their personal network.
Actively connect with people who can help you achieve success:
- Look for mentors or coaches
- Join or organize mastermind groups
- Go to meetups
Your circle of friends defines who you are. If you are surrounded by fearless people, chances are that you will take on bigger challenges.
5. Increase your Karma score
Karma is deeply rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism amongst others and states that good intent and good deed contribute to good karma and future happiness (while bad intent and bad deed contribute to bad karma).
This is similar to the Golden Rule, or Law of Reciprocity:
- One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself (positive or directive form).
- One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated (negative or prohibitive form).
- What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself (empathic or responsive form).
Consider volunteering, making meaningful gifts, and be a good friend.
6. Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is a muscle you can train.
By being more grateful, you will tend to express it more.
By expressing it more, others will be more likely to want to do things for you because they know it will truly be appreciated.
If you want to practice your gratitude muscle try this: at the end of the day, just before falling asleep in your bed, think of 5 things you are truly grateful for today. It could be a job that pays the bills, a loving family that brings joy to your heart, a friend that makes you laugh.
7. Relax
When we are stressed and tired, our ambitions and optimism tend to shrink and we start focusing on our needs and ourselves. When relaxed and happy, we expand outwards and notice opportunities more easily.
I strongly recommend considering mindfulness meditation, as it is very convenient and yields results with minimum time investment.
8. Be Proactive
Take responsibility for your life. Stephen Covey exhorts us to be proactive.
Take charge of your life and stop blaming other people for your poverty, misfortune, failures.
By being proactive — instead of reactive — you stop the blame and you reclaim your own power to change your life.
9. Show Up
You need to consistently show up in the right places to allow luck to happen.
If you consistently go to the right meetups, you will meet the right people.
If you consistently show up and work on your side business, you will make progress.
Conclusion
While luck seems something out of your hand by definition, you can actually have a high impact on how much “luck” you get in your life.
If you have anything to add to our list, feel free to leave your comments below.
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