Here’s how to create your next lucky break
Ever met someone who consistently seems to be in the right place at the right time? While luck (good and bad) will always factor into your business results, studies show that the luckiest people aren’t sitting around waiting for random chance to strike.
According to Jim Collins (in Great by Choice), the individuals and businesses that get lucky most often are those that take deliberate actions that increase their “luck surface area.” But here’s the catch: our brains love to misinterpret luck.
Annie Duke, a former professional poker player and decision strategist, warns against ‘resulting’ – the human tendency to judge the quality of a decision based purely on its outcome. If something turns out well, we assume we made a great choice. If it goes badly, we blame bad luck. But in reality, good decisions can still lead to bad outcomes, and vice versa.
To put the odds in your favour, you can take action to increase the likelihood of a lucky break while resisting the urge to judge your decisions based on their results alone. In other words, make space for luck, but be clear-eyed about the quality of your decisions.
How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area
1. Invest in skills and knowledge
Prepare by investing time, energy, and attention into training and development that makes you and your company more attractive to potential opportunities. When the opportunity arises, you’ll be ready to make the most of it.
2. Build strong relationships
Lean into your network, and talk to them about your dreams, goals, and future plans. When people know what to look out for, your odds are far greater that they’ll think of you and make a timely introduction.
3. Seek out new experiences and challenges
Experimentation leads to unexpected wins, new learning, and new connections. Say yes to smart risks to increase exposure to good fortune.
4. Be persistent and resilient
Staying consistent will increase your exposure to opportunities and resources over time.
Check out Sahil Blooms “overnight success years in the making” for a vivid illustration of all these principles in action.
Focus on Process, Not Just Results
Making a smart decision doesn’t guarantee success. That’s why world-class poker players, investors, and CEOs obsess over their decision-making process, not just outcomes. They don’t take full credit for wins or blame luck for losses. They stay focused on making consistently smart choices.
Judge decisions by their quality, not their outcomes
When you succeed, ask: What role did luck play?
When you fail, ask: Did I make the best decision with the information I had? Would I make the same decision again with the same information?
This Week’s Takeaway
Luck isn’t just fate, it’s something you can influence. The luckiest people are the ones who make high quality decisions (regardless of outcomes) and take action to increase their exposure to good fortune.
What can you start today, that will put you on a path to increasing your luck surface area?
March 21st: GrowthCLUB – Last Call!
Create a plan that achieves more in 90 days than most businesses do in a year!
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It’s time to free yourself from the daily grind of working IN your business, and get back to working ON it. At GrowthCLUB, you’ll spend the day with a business coach and other business owners to create a powerful, feasible plan for your best quarter yet.
A 90-Day Action Plan keeps you on track to achieve your goals. You will identify your top priorities and create a focused, step-by-step plan to achieve them.
Building a StoryBrand: By Donald Miller
If you’re looking for a way to make your brand message clearer and connect better with customers, Building a StoryBrand is a really helpful read. It breaks down how to use storytelling to make your marketing more engaging and easy to understand. The book lays out simple, practical ways to refine your website, social media, and other materials so people quickly get what you do and why it matters to them.
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