Issue 29: How to get lucky

Some days you won’t be lucky but even luck wants you to show that you deserve her.

Two weeks ago, I sat with a friend who said, 'Oriade, you know you're a lucky person, right?'

Unlike most people, I don’t take offense when someone says I’m lucky or when they reference luck as the reason why I’ve achieved something great. Oftentimes when people say this, they do so to disregard the hard work you've put in and trivialize everything with that magic word: luck. "Oh no, you just got lucky! If not for luck, you wouldn’t have gotten that brand deal. Your music wouldn't have had a million streams. You could be this great and still be in the slums of Ojuelegba. It’s not that you’re that good. You just got lucky!" That’s often what people mean when they say, "Oh, you got lucky." But for me, that’s not what I hear. I simply hear, “You’re lucky, Oriade.” And to that, I say, “Oh yes, I am indeed lucky. And for that, I am grateful.”

Luck is a great thing and an important factor in success or greatness of any kind, and there’s no need to deny it. The presence of luck does not in any way diminish the presence of great work and effort. Luck and hard work are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in most cases, luck is often a result of great work that has been done over time or the potential for great work to be done. Here’s what I mean:

During the week, I listened to the Deep Dive podcast, specifically the episode where Sheehan talked to Ali about how he built a following of 1.6 million on Twitter. When Ali asked how he got there, Sheehan talked about how he quit his job at McDonald’s to write [don’t quit your job, please] and mentioned how lucky he was that this turned out great for him. However, during the same chat, he revealed that he wrote a Twitter thread every day for over 365 days. If you’re doing something every day for 365 days, how won’t you get lucky? By the way, if you’re wondering who Sheehan is, he runs the Cultural Tutor Twitter account – you're probably one of the 1.6 million followers.

In the same podcast but a different episode, Nathan, the founder of ConvertKit [whom we talked about in previous issues], also talked about how luck played a fundamental role in his success. While we don’t doubt that, we also can’t forget that Nathan is the same person who told us he would finish his tasks quickly so he could work on something else while his colleagues were playing around and passing time. So, is it really surprising that he got lucky?

In the essay I’ll be sharing today, the writer talks about what it means to create your own luck or make it easier for you to get lucky.

"Luck still occurs randomly, but you can position yourself to capture more of it by engaging in more activities and sharing them with more people.

For instance, if you're writing a Twitter thread every day for 365 days, that means you're constantly providing value to people every single day. Why wouldn't you be lucky? Sheehan also mentioned how he actively sought out people posting content similar to his and engaged with their content so they would notice his. In his early days, he reached out to people who liked his previous posts to inform them about his new ones. Eventually, he reached a point where he didn't have to do that anymore. So, is it really surprising that he got 'lucky'?

Luck isn't free of charge. Getting lucky doesn’t mean you didn't do anything at all.

That's why I don’t take offense when people say, 'Oh Oriade, you just got lucky.' I say, 'Oh yes, it's true that I actually got lucky, but hey, I positioned myself for that luck.'

The essay for today talks about creating a larger luck surface area in your life. The writer suggests, 'You might ask, is there any assurance to this? What if I do all these and still fail?' While that thought can be scary, I don’t think you can try every day and still fail. The fear of failure can feel like a gigantic, looming monster ready to pounce at any moment. But let’s make a deal; let’s see failure for what it is: a stepping stone, an experience teaching us valuable lessons and pushing us to grow. Turn those 'what-ifs' into 'why nots' and take that leap of faith into the unknown. Trust me, it’s where the magic happens.’

What are you going to do to increase your luck surface area?

If you believe that people simply get lucky by chance, then you have yet to understand how the world operates. If you were to select 10 "lucky" individuals, you might discover that only 1 out of 10 actually experienced luck, while the remaining 9 merely reaped luck as the reward of hard work.

So, how can you increase your chances of experiencing luck? First, consistency. Do it. Do it every single day. As the saying goes, you can’t be unlucky everyday for 365 days. 

What else can you do?

Well, you can read today’s essay and figure out how you can get lucky. And you can also share in the comments about a time you got lucky and let’s see how we can encourage others to get lucky.

Luck isn't confined to certain individuals; you too can experience it. However, just like Destiny once wrote, even luck wants you to show that you deserve her.

Here's to luck! Cheers.

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To read today’s essay titled, Stop hiding and start increasing your luck surface area, tap here. Don’t forget to drop a comment.

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Thanks to Omoremi Onipede for reading drafts of this.