Create your own luck in business
Every business requires a little bit of luck in order to succeed. And often times, success depends on timing and being at the right place at the right time, don’t you agree?
While we may not be able to control everything that happens to us, taking a leaf (or clover!) out of their book might make a difference. Here are some brilliant strategies we’ve rounded up to help you take your luck to a whole new level.
Be a social butterfly
The best predictor of how many “lucky breaks” a person has was how social and interconnected they were with those around them. Lucky people enjoy connecting and relating to other people and are comfortable doing so. When presented with new social situations, unlucky people talked to people they already knew or people who were most like themselves, whereas lucky people talked to a large array of people equally.
Forget about superstition
If a great opportunity arises out of the blue, is that luck? Or is it the result of a great impression you left on someone else, who then steered the new opportunity your way? Much of what we think of as simple good fortune can be explained if we look hard, so forget about a lucky horseshoe and study what “luckier” people do. I’ll bet it includes the items on this list.
Make a game of failure
No matter what you try, you will fail sometimes. The trick is to overcome your fear of failure, so as to have many more opportunities to succeed. Each day, give yourself a little reward for winning the failure game–making 10 failed sales calls, or making the effort to do 10 seemingly fruitless introductions.
This attitude also stops you from resting on your laurels. If you have a big victory on any particular day, you still need to go out and fail a few times to win the game.
Write down good things
One of the most surprising things I’ve learned as a chronicler of other people is how little we actually remember of our own lives. Longtime readers of this column might already know that I’m a big fan of the haiku-as-diary method of keeping a journal. Regardless of how you do it, recording the pieces of your life allows you to chart what you’ve done successfully and reminds you to follow up on opportunities.
Ask
Luck often comes down to the right person saying yes: to your idea, to your startup, to your pitch, to your proposal, to your request. No one can say yes until you ask, though.
Unlucky people wait to be discovered and given what they want. Lucky people discover themselves and ask for what they want. Want the job? Ask for it. Want the sale? Ask for it. Want the investment? Ask for it. Many people will say no. A few will say yes. Other people will assume you got lucky. You will know you made your own luck.
