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Among all the mystical words, luck is probably the most ancient and popular one. In our daily lives, we use it commonly as ‘good luck‘, ‘may you be the lucky one‘, etc.

But even the best scientists would have difficulty describing or quantifying luck.

While some people believe luck is just a statistical phenomenon, others are convinced that luck plays a big role in life. But which is closer to the truth?

Probably no one has the absolute answer. The subject of luck is a lot subjective. There are mainly two categories of people regarding this-

people who are so convinced that luck plays a huge role in their lives. They attribute most of their success to luck. There are also people who don’t believe in luck. They think luck can be created, it’s about working hard.

Like most things in life, luck is not black or white but a shade of grey. From the outside, it may seem like some people are just incredibly lucky, but their inside story often tells a different tale. Similarly, while it might appear that some people have succeed purely through hard work, that’s not the whole picture either.

I think of luck as a blend of blind chance or divine blessing and the result of preparation, hard work, and serendipity. If you imagine luck as a full pie, some percentage is pure luck or blessing, as most people perceive it. However, a major portion is about preparation, strategy, curiosity, and effort—factors that are largely within our control.

I’ll share two examples from my own life. When I was 14 years old, I was playing near a pond with a friend. It was the rainy season, and the water level was high enough to drown even a full-grown man.

My friend jumped into the pond and challenged me to jump farther. I accepted the challenge and jumped in. But a moment later, I realized I couldn’t stand on my feet as the water was too deep, and I didn’t know how to swim. My friend didn’t know how to swim either.

I still remember that near-death experience vividly. Fortunately, one of my neighbors was working nearby and somehow saved me. I believe this was a case of pure luck. Had nobody been there to save me, I would have died that day. It felt almost like divine intervention.

As I grew up, I moved from a village to a town, then to a city, a metro city, and eventually to a new country for new opportunities. Along the way, I saw some of my equally skilled and hardworking batchmates who, despite their efforts, couldn’t reach where they ideally wanted to be.

Some people today believe that I’ve been lucky at times in my life. I don’t object to the fact that luck has played a role, but it’s not all pure or blind luck. Much of it results from controllable efforts—preparation, hard work, and seizing opportunities.

But here’s the nuanced part: no one can consciously put in deliberate effort and guarantee it will make them lucky in the future. Whether it’s pure luck or controllable luck, it works in mysterious ways that most of us don’t fully understand.

We surely can’t truly understand luck but can increase the odds of being luckier. I find the Eisenhower matrix to be an effective way to demonstrate the luckier phenomenon.

For me, the key to increasing the odds of being lucky is to do things that are not urgent but important (yellow box above). A teacher’s job is to teach, for him, that’s the most urgent and important thing. But then all other good teachers do the same.

What a teacher does that is not urgent but important decides to a greater extent if he would seem luckier in the future.

For a teacher, those not urgent but important things could be

  • Reading different but relevant books
  • Meeting with other interesting people, teachers, etc.
  • Taking interest in some activities that are out of his subject of teaching
  • Being curious about things happening around the world (some relevant ones)
  • building a good impression among people offline and online

This applies to almost everyone, no matter what your profession is. For the controllable luck, Seneca said it best as

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”

The preparation is sort of like planting seeds in the universe. Just as a farmer plants seeds in the soil and nurtures them, hoping they will eventually bloom and yield returns. We need to plant seeds of success (in various forms) in the universe throughout our lives.



Some of the questions I like to introspect in this realm (about increasing odds of luck) are

  1. Am I open to the idea of cold emails? Have I sent cold emails to people who could help you somehow?
  2. When I meet a stranger, do they feel positive/empowered after the conversation?
  3. Can people find me if they search your name on Google? Is there enough information available to make a good impression?
  4. Am I comfortable discussing a subject deep enough other than your professional subject/topic? Do I seem to be a specialist person or a generalized specialist?
  5. Do I read books on diverse subjects? Do I have a list of the top 10 books that I can send immediately if asked by someone?

Controllable luck also has a psychological side to it. people who believe lucky things happen to them tend to fare better than people who feel unlucky. The more you feel lucky, the better the chances luck will favor you and vice versa.1

If you think you are blessed or lucky, you are often more resilient after setbacks. If you feel you are unlucky, you may not have enough willpower to bounce back (because at the back of your mind, you have accepted that you are unlucky so there is no point trying more).2

Considering yourself lucky or unlucky is a way of perceiving yourself which then has an impact on how you behave and how you think and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When you see yourself as lucky, you’re more likely to approach life with optimism and confidence, seizing opportunities and finding positives even in setbacks.

I wholeheartedly believe that some aspects of being lucky are outside our control. We can’t make sense of every random event. Some things are best to be accepted as divine blessings.

You can’t control where you were born or who your parents are. You can’t control the environment you grow up in, nor can you change your genetics.

Aside from these, some people are also born with special abilities. Abilities that can’t be explained via human logic. Ramanujan often credited his mathematical insights to divine inspiration through dreams. Nikola Tesla could visualize complex machinery in his mind without drawing or modeling. Mozart was just brilliant from a very early age in composing music.

One could say they are lucky people. Luck that is often not controllable by human measures. But apart from these, some portions of luck are controllable and could be improved.

On a regular basis, engage in activities that could be important for your career, even if their benefits are not immediately visible (consider the Eisenhower Matrix). Create a framework of questions that a potential employer or investor might ask. Reflect on what makes you authentic or original, both in your field and as an individual, and consider ways to enhance your authenticity.

Reach out to people even if you don’t know them well. Having enough weak ties (people you know but not very well, they’re merely acquaintances) in this regard is particularly useful.3 Make connections beyond just your relevant network.

Try looking at the world from an optimistic lens. Be grateful for what you already have. Never think bad or unlucky about yourself. Changing your outlook towards bad events in life goes a long way to build resilience. Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor says-

“Lucky people also expect good fortune and turn lousy experiences to good. “They tend to be optimists, and they’re also very resilient to bad things that happen. “If bad things happen, it’s thinking, ‘Okay, it could have been worse,’ rather than ‘It could have been better.”

Breaking patterns could be also helpful in finding unexpected connections (and luck). Read different books than you usually read, and watch somewhat different shows than most common ones. Take interest in unexpected conversations -even small changes can be effective. The idea is to be flexible and open-minded in most circumstances.

Perhaps the most important thing I consider is the value of being a good human being and maintaining a clear conscience. The universe—and luck—operates in mysterious ways that we don’t fully comprehend. When I think about planting seeds of success in the universe, I see it as an act of creating good karma, without concern for immediate rewards. When you do good for yourself and those around you, the universe tends to respond in kind, sooner or later.

Ultimately, debating whether luck is random or not is not as important as how we approach our own lives. On a personal level, it’s worthwhile to make the most of life by being curious, working hard, being kind and open-minded, and maintaining a positive outlook (and luck will follow eventually). As there is a saying-

“God help those who help themselves”

References

  1. Making Sense of Misfortune: Deservingness, Self-Esteem, and Patterns of Self-Defeat ↩︎
  2. Is luck real, and can you change yours? It’s complicated ↩︎
  3. The real strength of weak ties ↩︎

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