Lady Luck a.k.a. Fortuna, in Roman mythology or Tyche, in Greek mythology, goddess of fortune. We all know of her existence, and we occasionally stare her right in the face.
But do we really know her ways? Are we able to influence her hand?
Can we demand her to stay nearby? I believe so. I believe we can.
It’s because I believe luck is a skill that you can learn.
And like any other skill, you can develop it and cultivate it.
In this week’s lessons, I’ll go into the concept of luck and how to get luckier.
So let’s jump in and let me know what you think. But first:
What is luck?
Luck is an invisible force to most of us.
It’s a phenomenon that happens to a person or an entity.
It’s when something positive and unexpected happens that moves the outcome in the right direction.
These occurrences can happen to people, things, and other entities, for instance; a company can get a lucky stroke.
The internet says that luck has to do with chance. When chances of something happing are slim but most favourable when they occur, once they do occur, people will speak of luck. Luck is random in their eyes.
And finally, people believe that luck comes to them. The believe luck finds a target and throws itself to them. That luck is just something that happens to them without them having any control over luck and its mysteries.
They believe it can’t be forced or wielded. But they are wrong.
The real truth about luck
Luck has nothing to do with randomness and nothing to do with chance. Luck does not come to you. It’s not about attracting luck either.
Luck is about acting instead of attracting. You collect it instead of waiting for it to happen.
To say it more clear. Your actions force luck.
It sounds pretty boilerplate. I must admit it does sound very cheap and so obvious but hang on here for a minute because I’m going to show you a new way to look at luck.
The larger the surface area, the luckier you get
Which of the fishing traps below catches more fish?
I’m guessing you’ve picked the larger one, and you are correct.
It’s because the surface area is way larger than the surface area of trap number one.
It’s the same with luck. The larger your luck’s surface area is the more luck you can collect.
Now that luck has a surface area; we need to figure out how we can increase the surface area to collect more luck.
Guess what, we’re in luck. Since fine gentleman, Jason C. Roberts already came up with a mathematical analogy on how to increase the surface area of luck in your life.
How to be luckier: Start talking about what you’re doing ( L = D * T )
Jason came up with the concept of ‘the surface area of luck’, and he boiled it down to two variables that influence the amount of luck that you can force:
- Doing: Actions that propel you towards a goal.
- Telling: Speaking about what you’re doing and the actions that you’re taking.
Examples of Doing could be drawing, web design, coding, hacking, writing, calculus, mathematics, accounting.
As you can see, it’s about doing something significant, something that other people are interested in.
Also doing is pretty similar to creating. Creation and doing go hand in hand.
Doing business and writing on this blog about things like the Notion App and reflecting on life.
Examples of Telling is anything that involves you talking about the things that you’re doing.
So for instance, it could be a startup pitching event or a networking dinner of a lunch with a former colleague—any location and moment where you have the opportunity to showcase what you’re doing.
Telling is about spreading your work. And I’m going a step further. In this digital age, telling is in the same ballpark as showing. Maybe showing is even more important these days.
But what comes first? Telling or doing? And what should you focus on?
When you start, it’s obvious to think that Doing comes first.
You need some substance to talk about. It would help if you had something to spread. It would be best if you had something to show before telling people about what you’re doing.
But sometimes thinking can also be Doing. Sometimes doing can be an idea in your head. Thinking about ideas, in general, can often be the first step in doing.
Speaking about your ideas is also telling, and I encourage everyone to speak about their ideas openly. So doing in a sense, always comes first. But doing does not always have to do with creating something material.
So why can’t my work talk for me? It’s because telling is spreading. And by spreading you generate reach and the more reach you have, the more people hear about what you do.
The more people you reach, the more luck you will force on yourself. So don’t be afraid to talk about what you’re doing. It’s a good thing.
How large is my lucks surface area?
If you want Fortuna to come and greet you daily, you’ll need to know where you stand with her at this moment.
The following graph shows a surface area focusing too much on Doing and too little on Telling.
The fishes a.k.a. your luck will swim past your collection net. It’s because the surface area is focussed too much on Doing and not on telling.
A large surface area only comes when you find balance in Doing and Telling as the below image displays. Doing and telling should be in equilibrium. None of the two should prevail too much, or the surface area will dwindle and become less effective. A good balance = optimum state to collect luck fishies.
Now we know what we want to achieve. We want to balance our Doing and Telling to optimize the surface area of luck.
Three questions will help us to find our current focus.
- What am I doing right now that I feel passionate about?
- How am I sharing and spreading the word on that which I’m passionately working on?
- When I look at last week and when I open up my calendar from last week. What is the current ratio between Doing and Telling?
As you can see, the above questions are confronting. And that’s the point.
Are you working on the right things and are you spreading and telling others about that what you’re working on? It would be best if you were honest with yourself.
Most of you will find that the ratio is way off. And that’s okay as long as you recognize that you’re way off. It’s a starting point that can only be corrected once you see the starting point. So knowing where you stand is a good thing.
I’ll try to explain the concept based on my own experience:
When we started with Parkeagle, I felt like the only way forward was to talk about what we were trying to do.
I was constantly pitching at speaking events pretending to be this incredible successful little startup and speaking about how we would innovate the last mile and make the world a better place through parking. It was a lot of bla bla.
Afterwards, I discovered that my ratio between doing and telling was totally out of wack as you can see below.
I was mostly telling and not doing. I thought I was doing and moving the needle, but this was not the case.
I needed to do pre-selling (selling might sound like telling but it’s actually part of doing). I thought I was selling by speaking to large crowds, but I was speaking and telling.
We could have been where we are today (4 years later) two years earlier if I had started picking up the phone and started calling one municipality contact after the other and should have sold them paid pilots. Real selling, actual doing, but I didn’t.
The below image displays the situation and where I was back in the day. Lots of telling in the beginning, some ups and downs and only recently (after fully understanding that a balance between telling and doing is important) I started coming to a balance.
Hopefully, it will help you understand where you stand today. Are you mostly telling and not doing or are you doing and hiding from the telling?
Figure it out, and you’ll know how to course-correct.
Collect luck now that you know where you stand
Good job, you now know that you need to balance your doing with telling. And on top of that, you also know where you stand yourself.
So what now? How does one create this perfect balance between luck and doing?
That is for you to discover.
When you’ve analyzed last week or even the last few weeks, you’ll find little pockets of doing and telling during the week.
What happened during those brief moments? Did luck come out of it?
Did luck follow those events? Did those events move the needle for you?
Did anything come out of it that led to the next better thing?
If not, then don’t do more of that. Try out other things. Call up your old boss and tell him/her what you’re working on. Call an old roommate that started his own business and tell her what you’re working on. Plan a lunch with an old business partner or an old client.
Just try out anything and everything and balance out your doing and telling.
The moment you’ve balanced them out, your surface area is maximized and ready for optimum luck collection. Peak luck is activated.
Good luck in finding your fortune.
Have a great one.
More Stuff You’ll Love:
Instantly become a better listener: Ask this single question beforehand
My Notion Cockpit: A new Notion Template – A Life Wiki on steroids
The Five Year Rule – Start over every Five Years and become a master
7 Questions every aspiring entrepreneur should ask themselves