What Successful People Dont Talk About
For most people who are successful there is quite a bit of luck involved. This is a topic that is under discussed because people want to take credit for their success and they also don't want to spread the victim mentality.
Luck
I think it’s important to discuss luck because if we only believe in hard work and talent then its easy to fall into the trap of believing that everyone who is successful is just working harder than everyone else. The reality is that a lot of people that have success, in any part of their life, usually had luck on their side.
Now this isn't to take away from the hard work involved in taking advantage of your luck. A person who started a youtube channel early still had to put in massive amounts of time and effort into their channel to grow it. But they were also lucky that they chose to focus on a youtube channel instead of becoming a manager at a blockbuster.
First Step Towards Luck
The first step to improving your luck as a person is to first admit that you have had luck in the past. This might be a hard thing to do if you feel like things aren't going your way right now but it is an important exercise.
If you make yourself blind to the luck that you have had, which I can guarantee you have, then you won't be able to see future opportunities to expand your luck. So for the first step let’s write down some ways we have been lucky in the past using the free worksheet below.
Lucky Negative Experiences
One thing I want to note here is that luck doesn't always have to be positive, you could have had a negative experience that taught you an important lesson. Maybe you embarrassed yourself in a way that you would never want to repeat and learning that lesson has improved your life.
I have an example of this that makes me cringe at least once a week. One time I was at a friend's birthday party and the discussion turned political. I was especially stressed that day so I ended up getting way too worked up over nothing and definitely turned the discussion sour.
After that happened I have made sure to maintain better control over my emotions and I work hard to keep my mouth shut if I'm likely to say things that I dont actually believe but want to say due to negative emotions.
Becoming More Lucky
Now that we have some ideas of how we have been lucky in the past, let’s now focus on what we can do in the present moment to become more lucky. To become more lucky you have to position yourself in a place where you have the largest amount of opportunities.
So for example, if you want to be more lucky in your social life and want to find better friends you will have to put in the effort to try to meet a larger number of people. Pick up new hobbies where you are likely to meet more people, take a dance class for example.
You might also want to think about ways to become someone that people like having around by becoming more mindful and happy. Find ways to be supportive without being needy and that will drastically improve your social opportunities.
If you want more luck in your financial life start to implement a strategy for seeking out new job opportunities while also building valuable skills. Make sure to focus on skills that are of high value.
Now this might sound vague because it has to be specific to what you want more of in your life and what is available to you. Luck is always specific.
You might feel really unlucky for most of your life thus far, but you have to ask yourself how much of that has been due to a lack of exploration. Can you really say you’ve had bad luck with friends if you never actively sought out different opportunities to meet new people?
It might sound harsh but taking responsibility for bad luck can be empowering because it gives you a path towards improvement. But with that said, never be too hard on yourself for not being where you want to be because life is truly chaotic.