For most of my life so far, I’ve always come across this equation for success:
Success = Hard Work + Time + Luck
Within this equation, there are two variables that I can plan for, hard work and time. However, luck isn’t something that’s in anyone’s control. The dictionary defintion of the word luck is, “a combination of circumstances, events, etc., operating by chance to bring good or ill to a person”. The word, “chance” indicates that the factor of influence is deleted from the equation of luck. Also, according to this definition, the circumstances, may or may not be in our control.
So how does one use the third variable of the success equation to their advantage? How does one ‘hack’ into getting luck on their side? Well on my quest to look for solutions, I came across an interesting article written by Naval Ravikant about the four kinds of luck and how we can make a habit of getting lucky. Naval talks about the concept of four kinds of luck and how we can use these types of luck to get what we want in life.
The Four Kinds of Luck
Dr. James H Austin, an Ameican neurologist, in his book, Chase, Chance and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty, states the roles of luck, chance and serendipity within medical research and introduces the world to the four kinds of luck! These are (1) Blind Luck, (2) Luck from Motion (Hustle Luck), (3) Luck in Preparation and (4) Luck Unique to You. Let’s break these down.
Blind luck
Blind luck, also popularly called, ‘Sheer dumb luck’, is basically fits the dictionary definition of luck. It’s the incoming of good fortune, success or advantage without the need to influence people or circumstances in your favour. Most grandmothers around the world like to use the phrase, ‘it’s written’, to describe this kind of luck. Let’s say, you buy a lottery ticket for the first time and win, that’s considered blind luck. Winning the lottery is not something you controlled at all, not something you influenced at all, you just bought a ticket and voila, now you’re a millionaire!
Luck from Motion
This luck is in line with the traditional mindset of ‘the more you try, the more you will get out of life’. Our parents like to instill this kind of luck within us. Also called the hustle luck, this type of luck relies heavily on the idea that you need to work hard to get what you want. If you want to win the lottery, buy 1000 tickets to increase your chances of winning the lottery.
This is also most people’s innate way of behaving. And this is also the type of luck we admire. We are never angry at anyone for having this luck. Because we appreciate the persistence, hard work, hustle, motion that’s gone into making a person lucky.
We do however have to be wary of ‘waste motion’, which basically means that we should avoid doing work for work’s sake if the outcome doesn’t change whatsoever. Luck in motion can also become a toxic kind of luck when you don’t achieve any success even after going down an alleged path to success. When you’ve been spending an hour each day to go for a run or do any other form of exercise and at the end of the month your weighing scale is still stuck at the same spot, the toxicity towards exercise sets in immediately. It may make you bitter and may push you away from ‘hustling’ for a better future.
Luck in Preparation
Luck in preparation relies on training yourself to see luck when it presents itself. Harnessing luck in preparation usually feels like hacking or cheating to get what you want. You tend to become hyper-sensitive to luck and this is a result of becoming very skilled within a field of work.
A good example is one of a filmmaker. If a filmmaker read a book that they believe will make a great film, they’re hacking into their insight from having made similar successful films before and having successfully marketed them. Others, who aren’t film-makers, will not see the same opportunity.
A very ‘corporate’ or ‘day-joby’ example is to ‘be nice to the manager’ or ‘entertaining customers who you know will either leave a good tip or will have nice things to say to your superior’ to get quickly get higher up in the job ladder. Instead of relying entirely on hustle luck, luck in preparation forces us to actively look for key moments, players or types of behaviour that will help us propel our way to success.
Luck Unique to You
This type of luck requires you to adopt strategic hustle. In order to garner luck unique to you, you need to be able to provide value, build a personal brand or a unique characteristic. This uniqueness will be recognised and rewarded.
This, in my opinion, is a supreme way to get lucky. You’re not manipulating anyone, you’re not necessarily seeking out lucky moments, you’re simply putting work out there which is unique to you and will help people and eventually luck to find you.
Being the single best at something is not impossible, but it won’t get you the luck unique to you. In order to be able to harness this type of luck, you need to be within the top 20% at 2 different things! The wider the difference between the two things, the better. For example, if you’re a good singer and a physics expert, you’ll have a higher chance of hitting a lucky break. Because music and physics are different topics, they will form this unique persona, which will attract support of music lovers, physicists and those who appreciate your uniqueness.
One of the best ways of applying the fourth type of luck is to harness the power of the internet! Starting a YouTube channel and making a community of people who like and appreciate your content, writing a blog and creating a community of readers, staring a page on Instagram and having followers who resonate with your content, are some of the ways in which you can get ‘lucky’.
I’m hoping luck finds me through either my YouTube channel or through this blog. I’ll keep you posted if and when that happens! 🙂