The Formula to Luck Involves Saying Yes

Through sheer luck, I got connected to Jeff Gibbard, a multidisciplinary kindred soul that also works with entrepreneurs, agencies, and humans who want to grow and learn. I was so dazzled by his personality that I immediately thought, "This guy is TL;DR material."

I invited Jeff to provide the feature for this TL;DR since he appreciated the irony of exploring luck on a historically unlucky day and that's the right TL;DR energy I look for in collaborators.

My TL;DR for you before I turn it over to Jeff is that I believe that your odds at success (in most things) improve exponentially the more at-bats that you have at something. You take enough intro calls with strangers, the more likely you'll stumble across a Jeff. Perspiration is the active ingredient in luck potions.

Now, here's Jeff:

The Invention of Luck

Luck is weird.

Some people think it’s cosmic.

Others think it’s chaos.

But what if there’s a third option—something you can actually do?

Somewhere between superstition and randomness, there’s a set of rules we can follow to get lucky more often.

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Finding Patterns

Humans are storymaking machines.

Luck becomes a stand-in explanation for the things we can’t explain.

We use stories to make sense of the patterns we observe amidst the randomness.

• From these patterns, we make up rituals.
• From these rituals, we seek out confirmation.
• Once we find confirmation, we feel a sense of control.

That sense of control is a temporary antidote to feeling helpless in a complex world.

But when it comes to luck, that feeling of control is built on shaky ground.

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Looking Through a Keyhole

One of the key reasons belief in luck persists is confirmation bias.

We see the times where our rituals and superstitions produced our desired results, omitting all of the times they didn’t.

We celebrate the $100 lottery win from our lucky numbers, forgetting about the thousands spent on losing tickets.

When we fail to get the outcome we want/expect, we’re more likely to believe that we did the ritual wrong than we are to accept a universe that doesn't care about our supernatural rules around numbers, animal feet, or whether we step on cracks in the pavement.

But...not all “luck” is about superstition.

Sometimes, what looks like luck is really something else.

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Ticket, Please

In situations where a decision has to be made and you ultimately benefit, we might call ourselves lucky.

• We might think it’s random.
• We might think our rituals delivered.

What we rarely stop to think about are the invisible advantages that might have helped us.

Luck is random. Privilege is systemic.

It’s quite the coincidence that luck seems to keep showing up again and again for the same people in the same ways.

That’s not luck—it’s an unequal system.

The only thing lucky there is being born into a group with fewer barriers.

But luck can exist independent of magic and systems of oppression.

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Make Your Own Luck

Once we’re willing to acknowledge that privilege can play a role in luck—and put superstition off to the side—we can find concrete strategies for getting lucky more often.

It turns out that much of what looks like luck in hindsight is actually the result of a repeatable process.

It might feel like magic, but it’s built like a system.

If you want to get lucky more often, do these four things:

1. Choose a goal.

Get specific about what you want.

2. Learn the skills.

Build the capabilities needed for your goal.

3. Show up consistently.

The more chances you take, the more likely you’ll get one.

4. Find your people.

Relationships amplify your reach, resilience, and results.

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Battle-Tested

In my life, I’ve failed countless times.

I had a marriage that fell apart, multiple businesses that didn’t work, and tons of ideas at the wrong place and wrong time.

But I knew where I wanted to go, always kept trying to improve, and kept showing up—often alongside people who had my back.

Sometimes, I was able to get up and keep moving forward because I’m resilient.

Other times, I know I was aided and benefited by my privileges.

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Let’s Make and Use Our Luck

I can’t stop anyone from believing in lucky socks—partially because it would be disingenuous of me to do so while I own several pairs of “lucky” underwear.

But perhaps I can convince you to create more luck, more often, and in service of something impactful.

I know that purposeful preparation and action will help us make a better world faster and more reliably than any rituals we’ve come to believe.

You don’t have to abandon anything to pick a goal, work hard, and keep showing up alongside other true believers.

In fact, if you do that…

you might just get lucky.

Want to read more from Jeff? He's got a zippy newsletter that I've been enjoying- take a read through the Infinite Impact newsletter and his resource-filled Resourceful Fridays.

A TL;DR from the CRO

I consider myself lucky if I find a comfy soft spot for a summer afternoon to doze in...and boy do I have a lot of practice so yeah, I'm pretty lucky.

-Roman Noodles, Chief Ruff Officer

A TL;DR from the Archives: How Your Top 5 CliftonStrengths Solve Agency Leadership Puzzles

When you start to shift from being the brilliant practitioner who runs their own business into the leader of a growing agency, strategically playing to your strengths is what it takes to survive and excel as an agency leader. There are some very profitable reasons to use the CliftonStrengths framework to lead your team with panache. Read more...​

Mushroom growing is back on the menu of Weird Dan Hobbies! It's been a while (specifically October 15th, 2021), but way back I got into the mushlyfe, failed three times, then pivoted to rock tumbling...but luck is about repetition!

(Diana, I know you've been waiting FOREVER for this moment- thanks for being a subscriber for over 4 years!)

I decided to try to become a MushMan again with a beginners grow-your-own-mushroom kit from North Spore and have inoculated freshly cut logs with Blue Oyster spawn.

If I'm lucky, I'll be getting some serious flushes of tasty mushrooms in 6-12 months.

If I'm unlucky, then the next time I go to the farmer's market I'll have a hilarious failure story to tell the mushroom girl.

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Patient Zero in the real life version of the Last of Us,

Dan from Learn to Scale​

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​PS. You too can become a MushPerson!​