Reading Time:
From the desk of Harsh Strongman
Subj: How to Manufacture Luck (The Art of Good Fortune)
There’s nothing you can do that will improve dumb luck (random chance), i.e., the country you were born in, the family you were born to, your natural gifts (or a lack thereof), etc.
However, you can structure your lifestyle to make it much more likely that luck and good fortune would find you over the long term.
Here are the four ways to go about doing just that.
How to Manufacture Luck
1. Manufacture Luck by Being Bold
Men of action own the world.
Rebels become kings because they were bold enough to rebel. Entrepreneurs change the course of the world because they were brave enough to try.
Sure, the same rebels who want to be kings die in the streets and entrepreneurs fail all the time, BUT the probability of winning anything worthwhile as you sit on your ass is zero, nothing, zilch, while the probability of you getting what you seek by taking action is higher than 0.
This does not mean that you do arbitrary things. This means that you take calculated risks.
It’s a game of risk and probabilities.
Funnily, most of the time time, it doesn’t hurt to fail … at all.
You send in your resume. One of two things happen:
- You get a new job. (Win)
- You don’t get a new job. (Fail)
Even if you fail, so what? You never had it to begin with! Asymmetrical bet.
You ask a girl out. One of two things happen:
- She says yes.
- She says no.
If you weren’t bold enough to try, it would have been the second option by default. (“you miss every shot you don’t take”)
If you never try, you lose. That’s just how the world works.
(Side note 1: Make sure that there are no social costs of failure.
- Don’t tell everyone about the things you are trying. This way failure is not embarrassing.
- It’s smarter to risk rejection in a bar than in a workplace where you have to see them again.)
(Side note 2: Not only does Lady Fortuna favor the bold, she hates cowards. When you consistently be bold, your mind gets more comfortable with unusual situations, your comfort zone expands. This lets you take advantage of unusual opportunities that others can’t take because they’re uncomfortable with unfamiliar environments.)
2. Manufacture Luck by Being Persistent
This is something I’ve learnt from internet marketing: often, life is just a game of numbers.
If you have something to offer, you just have to present it to enough number of people until someone bites.
Traffic * Conversion Rate
If you can’t seem to draw the right card, just keep drawing.
Remember the one key difference between deterministic games (such as chess) and life (probabilistic): life offers you ample opportunities to draw again.
If you talk to one girl, you may or may not get a date. If you ask a thousand, your chances are pretty darn good.
If failure does not hurt, keep taking shots.
If you find that your traffic is strong (you’re taking enough shots), but you still have no sales. you then need to look at what you can do to up your conversion rates.
a) Improve the offer and b) make sure that you’re targeting the right audience. (You’ll catch more fish at the lake than the swimming pool).
3. Manufacture Luck by Unique Action
Unique action will bring you unique results, and extraordinary luck can only find you on extraordinary journeys.
Steve Jobs became Steve Jobs because he decided to sell computers to the general public, not by doing what everyone else was doing.
I won’t get too much into this point, because unique action by definition has no blueprint, but I recommend checking out a book called Zero to One (India, UK, USA).
4. Capture Opportunity with Preparation
Opportunities Multiply as they are Seized … and they die when forgotten.
LUCK FAVORS THE PREPARED MIND, and when prepared men pounce on opportunity, they are rewarded with more opportunity. (proactive)
(The feeling of “things keep going my way…”)
Meanwhile, those who go with the flow (reactive) take the same trajectory as dead fish.
“Diligence is the mother of good luck [so] Plough deep, while sluggards sleep” – Benjamin Franklin, The Way To Wealth (India, USA)
Remember, the strong don’t need luck, that’s why they get it. God helps those who help themselves. Luck or no luck, it can be very hard to keep a prepared, determined man from getting what he wants.
Hope this helps,
New readers: If you’re interested in getting in control of where your life is heading and improving your mindset, discipline, and self-control, you should check out Live Intentionally: Discipline, Mindset, Direction – A 90 Day Self-Project.
Your man,
Harsh Strongman
wpDiscuz
