There is a sign hanging in my office with a simple message, “Make your own luck.”
Does that mean I’ve created a collection of four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, and rabbit’s feet? Hardly. There’s not an ounce of superstition behind this statement, and I’m not spending any time looking for lucky pennies on the street. Instead, the statement “make your own luck” calls out a deeply held belief. Luck is made and created, not accidental or arbitrary.
Quickly shedding the idea that luck is merely based on chance, let’s dig in…
Here are five keys to make your own luck:
- Attitude – Attitude is everything, and when it comes to the keys of making your own luck, it’s the foundation. All of the “lucky” people in my life are naturally positive as well. Their mindset is already in the right place, positioning them to become lucky. Flipping the script for a moment, it’s really challenging to be negative and lucky at the same time. Running a negative script in your head will always create barriers to creating “luck.”
- Relationships – One of the reasons attitude is so important is that it’s what ultimately makes you magnetic to other people. Expanding the network of people you’re connected to, and deepening your relationships with those people, is the next key to making your own luck. Every day, if you’re intentional to create relationships with a diverse group of people stronger than you are, you’re setting the stage for your own future “luck.”
- Preparation – It’s been said that “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” The best education isn’t relegated to classrooms – there are opportunities for learning all the time if we’re paying attention. The most “lucky” individuals I know are the ones who I would identify as lifelong learners, always preparing for what’s around the next bend. They’re the ones who are focused on continually moving forward, always growing, and spending each day working hard to challenge themselves mentally.
- Hustle – The follow-up to preparation, and the fourth key to making your own luck, is hustle. The backstory to most any success worth talking about is always hard work. Want “luck?” A little blood, sweat, and tears will help you create it. In a world where we’re all focused on the silver bullet and the quick fix, hustle is probably the least popular of the five keys to creating luck, but it is one of the most important.
- Discomfort – I’m writing this at 6 AM on a Sunday morning. It would be more comfortable to be in bed asleep, but I’ve committed myself to write one article per week for the Depth Not Width blog. Sometimes that commitment requires getting uncomfortable to stay on track. Being comfortable with the idea of getting uncomfortable is the final key to making your own luck.
Reading the five concepts above, you may be thinking in the back of your mind about Jack or Jane who won the lottery? Aren’t they just straight-up lucky? They didn’t have to get too uncomfortable to spend two dollars on a ticket. Their relationships didn’t help them win, and their attitude didn’t make them a winner. They were just lucky.
You’re right.
Through that lens, I’m lucky too. As a caucasian male born in the United States, with adoptive parents who gave me a great, nurturing home to grow up in, I’m lucky, or as I refer to it, blessed. There are definitely things that happen to us, both blessings and challenges, that are out of our control. What we do have power over, and a final bonus key to making your own luck, is how we adapt and react to those things we can’t control.
With that in mind, let me end with this. I used to work with someone who I heard say again and again, “I’m just unlucky. My whole family is. Nothing good ever happens to us.” This became an anthem that he repeated over and over while we worked together. Watching from the outside, he was right. The words he spoke eventually came true, and he experienced more “bad luck” than most. By saying over and over that he would never be lucky, he spoke his lack of luck into existence, never taking any action to change it.
The Takeaway
Become lucky. Start doing the things you need to today in order to make your own luck, from your mindset to your preparation, and quit waiting for luck to randomly come find you.
Mindset Matters
As I’m writing these blogs, the one consistent theme is this… We all need a little help from time to time, a gentle nudge (or shove), and that outside voice that helps us get our head in the right place to stay on track. If that resonates with you, I’d love to have you subscribe and receive a post like this one each week!