How to Have “Luck” in Business
Have you ever felt others have all the luck while you’re sitting in your office with a monkey on your back? Or have you ever felt jealous of someone else’s lucky break while you are in the background waiting for yours?You aren’t alone. We tend to notice and focus on others’ success while focusing on our struggles and roadblocks. Do you believe some people are just lucky, and you are not? Luck is the idea that some people are just more unique according to the universe and defy the odds by their mere existence. It’s a fact that overall, we as humans all have good and bad opportunities and choices to make. Some people get dealt a poor hand of cards early, and others face significant setbacks as they grow older. Could “luck” be not luck at all but instead a random law of numbers in humanity? Have you ever heard the phrase “Life isn’t fair”? If it were fair, we would all have the same number of setbacks and an equal number of opportunities. But instead, life randomly deals out fortune and cruelty, respectively. Is there hope? How do we take “control” of our luck?
There are some things in life we cannot control. But if you look at “luck” as the number of opportunities that arise in your life, you can take control of your “luck” and influence the outcome. There are plenty of people who do this every day. So what do these people do? Avoid walking under ladders? Carry around four-leaf clovers? No, the people who control their luck have a set of behavior and mindsets that help them influence their outcome. So instead of searching amazon for a purple rabbit’s foot, take a look below at some common behaviors and attitudes of “lucky” people.
Get Connected
“Lucky” people (the people who have more “lucky breaks” than the average person) connect with others and seek diverse groups of people, not just people who are exactly like them. For the extroverts, this will come more naturally, and for the introverts reading, will seem like a homework assignment. Want to change your luck? Start networking and do it often. The more you do it, the more natural it will feel. Why is connecting with others and widening your circle so important? The reason is positive opportunities in life don’t just magnetize people at random. They happen because of the people we know, like, and trust-the more extensive your network, the bigger your chance for “lucky” opportunities to roll around. The phrase “it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know” didn’t just fall out of the lucky sky.
Be Open-Minded
Do you ever take risks? Do you break your routine now and again? Spontaneity will open you up to more potential opportunities and adventures. The same old will get you the same old. Want some unexpected opportunity to knock at your door? You have to be spontaneous too. If you keep doing what you keep doing, you will keep getting what you keep getting. I’m not suggesting quitting your job or jumping out of a plane, but I am talking about going to an event you may never have gone to, taking up a new hobby, or learning a new skill. Break your routine. Soon, you’ll also see that being open-minded and spontaneous allows you to connect with others more and grow a more diverse circle. So you’ll be killing two unlucky birds with one stone on this one!
Maximize Your Luck
So what is it? Did Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and all the prominent billionaires get lucky? According to research, the super-successful didn’t get any more or any less fortunate breaks than those who were unsuccessful. People like the three billionaires above all can recognize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and then pounce on it. Perhaps it means losing sleep, missing weekend outings with family, sleeping on the couch in the office, or moving to a new state to learn all there is to know about a unique opportunity. The point is, these “lucky” people do whatever it takes to seize the opportunity. They don’t let it slip through their fingers. This is what it means to maximize luck. You will also see these titans minimizing their ‘bad luck. How do they do that? Use every “failure” as a learning opportunity. Don’t dwell on bad luck but instead turn the weakness into a strength. Don’t let your ego be too big that it cannot see what is essential.
Be Positive
There are so many reasons that a positive mindset is healthy, but I needn’t go off on a tangent. Being positive and having the *expectation* that the best people and opportunities will surround you will go a long way with your luck. No one likes a negative nelly. No one wants to bring positive opportunities to grumpy naysayers. Be a person people like to be around. Don’t suck the energy and life out of the people around you. Be quick to see the good and slow to see the bad.Start a mantra for yourself every day. Look at yourself in the mirror and recite it every morning. The more you adopt a positive mindset and truly live it, the more you will influence the outcomes to your ‘luck.’None of this positivity requires voodoo. The reality is that we perform to the level of our expectations. Have high expectations, and you will automatically increase your outcomes. You might “fail” along the way, but if you keep pressing on and stay consistent, you will have a significant “lucky” break.
If you haven’t noticed by now, most of the words “luck” are in quotations for a reason. People on the outside will be quick to dismiss your hard work, perseverance, integrity, and tenacity, all as a moment of luck. Don’t spend time with these people. They are not the type of people you want in your circle. The ones that know you worked hard, made sacrifices, pushed your comfort zone levels, had a winning attitude, and never gave up, are the people you want around you. And almost always, they will never attribute your success to luck.
Success is a Choice, Good Luck!
Originally published at https://aaronbouren.com on November 1, 2021.