My Simple Formula To Make You A Luckier Person

I have a way to make you a luckier person.

But first, let me confess, I don’t believe in luck.

Nonetheless, a lot of people consider me an extremely lucky person.

My wife Justine likes to joke how I’ll casually mention a want or a need and it will “miraculously” fall into my lap shortly after. 

This has to be more than a coincidence, right?

But as I said, I don’t believe in luck, at least not in the conventional sense.

I do believe in hard work, maintaining a positive mindset, unconditionally helping others (or connecting them with someone who can), and sharing what I am investing my time into, with whoever will listen.

Perhaps these qualities can be distilled down to something we can identify as “luck”.

My intention is not to bolster my ego but to try and take a deeper dive into a mental model called your “Luck Surface Area”.

Essentially, this model suggests that we can increase our luck through a combination of doing something and then sharing with as many people as we can.

Put more eloquently:

L(uck) = D(oing) x S(hareing)

We need to find a way to TAKE ACTION and then have the confidence to SHARE what we’re doing with others.

In this model, the more people in our sphere that start to see what we are doing, the more chances we have to catch a break.

We increase our rate of “miraculously” connecting with someone who can help propel us forward.

While this makes sense theoretically, in practice, we need to take a more nuanced approach.

I can’t think of a worse pain than being cornered at a party or networking event by someone who only wants to brag about their achievements or is just talking to at me to ascertain how I can help them.

Think of a time you have been in a similar situation and how this person made you feel.

Back when Cowerks used to host regular networking events, my team had a term for these individuals — punishers.

There is no quicker way to limit your luck than to be “a punisher” and over the years I saw a number of these folks come and go. 

Often, these individuals were quick to tell me that our events were better attended than other meetups but there weren’t a lot of people who they could really do business with.

Anyway, I digress.

I believe to improve our luck we need to stack our ability to take action and share while showing compassion for others.

This can manifest in several ways but here is a formula you may find useful.

1. We need to listen to others.

2. We need to ask them questions.

3. We need to organically talk about their interests, projects and passions and then share ours.

4. We need to figure out how we can be helpful or create value for them — and then proactively follow up.

5. Most importantly, we need to do all of this without expecting anything in return.

This is how we build authentic relationships and when we combine this with doing stuff — luck is the outcome.

L(uck) = D(oing) x S(hareing) x A(uthenticity)