We somehow started believing that Luck is something which brings you those aspirational bounties undeservedly, suddenly without having worked for it. If you really sat down to analyse the so imagined lucky people in your set of the 'enviables', you will conclude that your belief was unrealistic.
When you simply take more shots at the problem, your probability to experience 'luck' gets higher. Logically therefore lucky people are lucky because they directly expose themselves proportionately to a higher number of opportunities to do new things and work outside their comfort zones.
'Luck' is six degrees separated from you ! Think about it. Effectively it means that all the things you love, like, desire to own, wished for or dreamt of are actually placed around you in your network of references or circle of contacts - separated from you only by six degrees of separation....provided you have the right network of contacts.
Success therefore lies in ☝ systematically identifying the influential players in your network of critical contacts,✌ leveraging artfully, your 'go to' gate-keeper (contacts for each of these influential players) and👌 post getting your break-throughs with the gate-keepers, investing in building sustainable relationships with 'Influencers' such that it has the potential to bring you bountiful rewards, support and recognition.
If you follow this rigour and recipe, you will find that luck that lies hidden in the potential of your net-work of relationships could systematically be mined. Any great job opening, matrimonial prospect, investment opportunity, attractive sales deals...all potentials for luck that could favour your success are within your arm's reach.
Having worked for several years with them, I was nurtured on the John Pemberton story rather early in my career. Pemberton was a pharmacist who was earlier a war veteran. He developed several tonic concoctions in his pharmacy. He was injured in a battles and was in constant pain. Unfortunately, he was poor....being impoverished more by monetary pressures to sustain his need to buy morphine to soothe his pain. By some degrees of separation, he was connected to another pharmacist - Asa Candler. Their common friends (read 'go to' contacts) brought them together and a deal was struck for Asa to buy John's latest tonic concoction...'Coca-Cola'.
Luck stuck Asa who became a millionaire because he was within the 6 degrees of net-working relationships that separated him from Pemberton. Net- work helped John to die gracefully (and medicated) in his last days without actually breathing his last with a billion dollar recipe under his pillow otherwise.
Luck is not a loner ! It always has a companion ! Margaret Wheatley rightly said "Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone" . We do not live in a world of Lone Rangers. They have all grown old and retired from active action. In this uber interconnected world, even a butterfly flapping its wings in Jammu may by its hyper -connections have the power to cause a burst of rain- clouds in Jaipur!! Lorenz called this the 'butterfly' effect. It's a world that succeeds on social arbitrage of relationships.
You need to manufacture your luck systematically, but for that you need to use this recipe once you know your Mission well...
👉'L'everage with confidence on a systematically nurtured network of relations and contacts. You don't know which powerful butterfly in your network can cause which rain- clouds to burst. Important is for you to build that net- work , much ahead of time, before you actually need it. This explains why some people have an overdose of luck whilst some don't. This also explains why our parents (though unknowingly) told us to always be in company of right and positive people. Remember, relations are like Muscles - the more you work them, the stronger they become. To be effective in a net- work, never eat alone or go to a party empty-handed. You need to give as much as you get ! Connect others as much as you want to be connected. Or the net-work will extricate you and label you as a sponge !!
👉'U'nconventional..be ready to unlearn and experiment with calculated risks. Fools pass over unique opportunities that knocked their doors considering those who took them-up as idiots. Of course they repented later when these opportunities turned out to be Gold mines.
👉 'C'onfidence and audacity to believe in yourself even when you fall and more importantly learn to ask for help. Unless you can ask for help, you are working only on half an equation. Resilience is your partner. Sometimes you are the dog and sometimes, the lamp-post. You can't hope to win all.
👉'K'nowledge and information backed by intuition. Follow it but then back your intuition by sufficient data, insights, knowledge and information. Spectacular achievement is always preceded by spectacular preparation.
You need to be the centre of a circle of positive relationships but don't let your Hubris get the better of you. Otherwise, powerful net- works eject you as they reject you.
Dalai Lama in one of his discourses said...we human beings are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason, it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.
