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‘I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have,’
Observing the world around me though, I have come to the conclusion that Cox’s theory is elegant—but wrong. My own success as an author has little to do with hard work or talent. Many individuals I have met work much harder than most of us, yet they sadly remain unsuccessful. I also know people who have achieved great heights with significantly less effort.
A lucky person would succeed, even under adverse conditions. On the other hand, a capable and qualified general could prove to be disastrous on the battlefield—if he wasn’t inherently lucky.
In effect, how we respond to opportunities and how the outcomes pan out determine whether we are lucky or not.
‘Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.’
In the world of good luck harvesting too, we could call the basics The Three ‘R’s: Raise, Recognize and Respond.
It’s true, isn’t it? When I am successful, it’s because I worked for it, but when someone else is, he probably got lucky!
there are three types of luck: • Circumstantial Luck: I tag along with a friend to someone else’s dinner party and get introduced to someone. We like each other, get romantically involved and eventually get married. Being at the right place at the right time made it possible. The circumstances made it happen. • Constitutional Luck: Age, race, heritage, culture, or upbringing can predispose you to a certain outcome. For example, being promoted within a company because you are from the boss’s hometown is constitutional luck. • Dumb Luck: The sort of luck where one cannot analyse the cause and
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all the significant tools we need (to raise the number
of opportunities that come our way, recognize the valuable ones among them and respond effectively to them) fall into two basic categories: • Attitude: This refers to our way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. Our past successes, failures, interactions and experiences influence our attitudes, thus resulting in a tendency to instinctively favour or disfavour (sometimes erroneously). • Approach: This refers to one’s particular way of dealing with a situation or handling a challenge or task. Approach tends to be influenced by our education, work experience, training and skills.
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the lucky group approached the task with less anxiety, greater optimism and in a far more relaxed frame of mind. They did not see the need to compete, and this relaxed attitude allowed them to observe beyond the immediate task at hand. This enabled them to spot the ad.
luck is not entirely about chance; it’s about the human ability to spot opportunities and make the most out of them. The tools that help us convert opportunities into luck relate to either attitude or approach.
They think and react differently to the situation that they are in.
Approach is about action, the way that we do things, (as contrasted with attitude, which is more about how we think or feel about someone, something or a situation).
Building and leveraging your network of family, friends,
acquaintances and colleagues is critical. Tips and offers reach us via networks, competitors included.
I could connect to anyone else in the universe in a maximum of six steps through ‘friend of a friend’ introductions. What it also means is that any job opening, investment opportunity, joint venture, sales opportunity, romantic encounter, loan approval or marriage proposal is simply six degrees away!
being determined by whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks earlier! It’s a perfect illustration of the extremely interconnected world that we live
Many networks are available to us routinely: family, school friends, college alumni and colleagues at work. The important fact to note about lucky people is: They not only strengthen their existing networks, they also grow new ones.
the ability to nurture a network is simple yet complicated because it involves dealing with human psychology.
Networks are not only important for creating opportunities; they are often also critical for responding to them.
‘The bigger your web of friendly contacts, the better the odds in your favour. You cannot know what thunderbolt of good fortune is being prepared for you now by some distant engine of fate. You cannot know what complex interconnection of human relationships will guide the thunderbolt in your direction. But you can know, with certainty, that the probability of your getting hit is directly proportional to the number of people who know your name.’
Training oneself to ignore the inner critic and to listen to the inner wizard is what allows us to recognize opportunities for what they are.
Being intuitive does not mean disregarding reports, data analysis or other relevant information. One must absorb and think through all of those. The problem, however, is that most of us stop after thinking. We give ourselves no time to feel. Being intuitive is about thinking and feeling.
hunch should not be confused with an unfounded guess, wishful thinking or fear. Often, a good hunch is a conclusion based on real data, on facts observed and processed by your mind, even though you aren’t necessarily conscious of them.
Human beings have five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. But all of us also have a sixth sense. Some people call it common sense, others call it intuition. It’s inside all of us, but some of us have succeeded in muzzling it.
‘The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.’
In effect, ‘lucky’ people are lucky because they expose themselves to more opportunities by being willing to do new things, meet new people or travel to new places. They are willing to work outside their comfort zones.
‘Lucky people are open to novel opportunities and are willing to try things outside of their usual experiences. They’re more inclined to pick up a book on an unfamiliar subject, to travel to less familiar destinations, and to interact with people who are different than themselves.’
‘I have realized that the winner of the rat race is still a rat! Do you want to be just another rat all your life?’
A simple act of changing the race we are running often produces dramatically better results, but this requires openness to try new things. As of date, I am a well-established writer of historical and mythological thrillers.
Changing the game makes us realize our inherent though latent strengths that can be better leveraged, thus making us better equipped to deal with new opportunities as they present themselves.
‘The luckiest people I know haven’t lived their lives in a straight line but in a zigzag. It’s a mistake to get stuck on one track. You’ve got to be ready to jump off in a new direction when you see something good.’
‘Ratchet’ is defined as ‘a mechanism that engages the sloping teeth of a wheel or bar, permitting motion in one direction only.’ Put simply, a ratchet is a device that permits a wheel to turn forward while preventing it from turning backwards. It safeguards the gains made by the wheel. Lucky people organize their lives much like a ratchet. They remain aware that any risk taken can lead to loss or gain, but in the event of loss, they’re not shy about admitting their mistakes. This makes it easy to cut losses in time. It also creates an environment for preventing a negative pattern.
Understanding one’s abilities and limitations is a key part of taking calculated risks. You may have the capital, but your health may be faltering.
‘Accepting responsibilities involves taking risks and being accountable, which is sometimes uncomfortable. Most people would rather stay in their comfort zones and live passive lives without accepting responsibilities. Accepting responsibilities involves taking calculated—not foolish—risks. It means evaluating all the pros and cons, then taking the most appropriate decision or action.’
Byrne’s view is based on the metaphysical belief that our minds emit and receive energy from the universe. Byrne compares the brain to a transmission tower. Unlike a physical magnet where opposites attract, your mind pulls energy of the same frequency due to the law of attraction. Therefore, whatever signal you send into the universe via your thoughts, you receive in return.
Adopting a positive attitude often requires us to stop associating with persons with negative attitudes. There exists a breed of individuals who excel in playing the role of victim. In fact, they almost enjoy failure because it gives them a chance to moan about their latest perceived victimization. The sooner one eschews the company of negative individuals, the better it is for one’s positivity. Keep in mind, though, that a positive attitude is of no use without persistence.
‘Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time,’
‘Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.’
‘Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.’
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in life.
‘Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.’
‘A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.’
Vipassana proponents always stress that if you are insulted by someone and get angry, the result is not the abuser’s fault. It is your fault because you choose to react.
Those who worry create inner disturbance; this mental upheaval does not allow them to take the best of decisions. Remaining calm and relaxed even in trying circumstances is a trait of lucky people.
Differentiating between hard knocks in life and opportunity’s knocks is sometimes difficult. Good luck is all around us, but we are often unable to recognize it because it could appear in disguise and we are not alert to this fact.
Thus lucky people are simply those who use every bad situation to the best of their abilities.
So what is the solution to acquiring confidence? It’s simple. Conquer fear.
Overcoming fear—of any sort—allows one to open up to the flow of opportunities.
