How to Get Lucky

You want to increase the surface area of your chances for luck.

• Increase your “shots on goal”. The more attempts you make, the likelier it is that you succeed. By being “in the arena”, you are already at greater odds of succeeding than many people who watch and wish.
• Work on something for a long time. I am currently writing about the values of working on long-term projects, projects on the scale of decades rather than months or years, and it occurred to me that this is one factor in luck. By not quitting, and compounding your skills in one area, you increase the chances that it will pay off over time. I’ve come to understand that many of us who feel like we haven’t “made it” in the arena we’d like are simply being impatient. This is dangerous though, you want to make sure you aren’t being stubborn and refusing to quit something that isn’t working. Distinguishing these is a powerful skill.
• Meet more people. Beyond strategic “networking”, meeting genuinely cool people who are into the same things as you increases the chance of meeting the right person for some pivotal opportunity. This was how we got our first and second contracts at Meanwhile. I was eating dinner in the East Village of New York, and happened to strike up a conversation with our future clients. Being sociable and open to meeting new people is a big factor in luck, and you’ll notice many successful peoples’ stories often hinge on meeting the right person. Also try to be around people who are ahead of you in terms of skills, knowledge, or career (while still owning your own work).
• Related to meeting more people, try to do more things. Go to more events, join more clubs, read more, listen to different people, change your routines, learn new skills, and try new hobbies. By engaging with the world more, you have a better chance of landing in the right place at the right time, with the right experiences to make you the best for the job.
• Be in the right place. This one is tricky, but it does seem to be true that for certain things, place matters. If what you want to succeed at is something which seems to have a concentrated center (like San Francisco for entrepreneurs), consider being in that center more. This also applies to virtual spaces. Make sure you find the best digital hot spots for your field, you won’t get lucky if you are sharing your vegan recipes in the Meat Eaters Society of America forum.
• Introduce randomness into your life. Do things on a whim every now and then. If you feel what you are doing isn’t working, why not switch it up and see what happens?
• Share your work. Whether you are an industrial designer, illustrator, programmer, or chef… sharing your work is the only reliable way to show people what you are interested in and skilled at. I’ve realized most people are unaware of what we are up to at any given time. By sharing your work more frequently you are informing the world what you are up to, and it may find the right audience. Don’t get discouraged if the first time you post your latest project you don’t get the response you wanted. People are busy and there is so much cool stuff online to occupy their attention. Keep sharing.
• Related to but importantly separate from sharing your work is that you need to “ship” your stuff. This means you should actually finish a decent amount of your projects and get your work in front of people. Get people tinkering with your product, solicit feedback on Twitter, start your Etsy, post your blog post, open a pop-up for a weekend. Many lessons await us when we take a project the “final mile”, and luck is often there too.
• Ask for what you want. I don’t mean asking the Universe. I mean literally asking the right people for what you want. Whether that means asking for investment from someone, asking that folks share your work with their friends, asking people to buy your work, asking for the job or raise, or asking for advice from someone… you won’t get what you don’t ask for. I’ve found that I often forget to be explicit about what I want when launching something or floating a “soft ask” to someone. You may just catch someone in the right mood. As with all things, be courteous with this one.
• Learn from your experiences. This seems obvious, but it is actually extremely difficult to make the lessons you’ve learned explicit and put them into practice. Document your attempts, what worked and what didn’t, and consciously try to use those lessons on your next attempts.

I am sure there are many more things you can do to increase your odds of getting lucky. I will add them here as I discover them.