As you reflect on the year that was and the year ahead, how big of a role is luck playing in your life? We all know people who seem luckier than others. Maybe that describes you? Or maybe you’re on the other end, with a feeling that you’re always coming up a bit short.
To get some perspective I checked in with some people who have played an important role in my development over the last 20+ years. They’ve all been a mentor to me in various ways. In the group there are academics, consultants, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and leaders from around the country: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, and Texas.
I sent them an email simply noting that I “felt lucky” to have met them and wanted their thoughts on why some people get luckier than others. I was surprised – but maybe shouldn’t have been - by how similarly they responded.
One thing they didn’t like was the term luck. In fact, the majority of them recoiled from it. “Being lucky has always seemed to me to connote pure ‘dumb luck’ as though the individual has had nothing at all to do with it, which I pretty much reject,” said Greg Downes.
So what is it that separates the lucky from the unlucky?
They’re active participants.
Bruce Gobdel: Showing up is most important. It is hard to be lucky if you are not in the game.
They expect good things to happen.
Thom Lewis: I’ve felt lucky my whole life! I grew up around the space program and learned if we could get a man on the moon and back, we could accomplish just about anything.
They prepare.
Kevin Cummings: Were we ‘lucky’ to get the wins we did? I don’t believe so. I believe we were prepared enough to maximize the opportunity before us and we seized it.
They engage others in their journey.
Steve Pahl: When you find yourself in the company of those that you come to see as mentors or advocates and even detractors, you did that. When you look out from your life and evaluate what you have, who you have in your life, and those situations and individuals you left behind, you did that.
They make good decisions.
Larry Linne: I see judgment as one of the biggest items that influences the luck people have. Good judgment tends to send people in good directions and to good outcomes. Poor judgment tends to send people to very poor outcomes.
They are gritty.
Larry Linne: What’s missing for most is the mental fortitude to get through tough situations. My observation is that the luckiest people are the ones that push through when it gets hard or impossible. They take defeat, struggles, injuries, pain, bad circumstances, and they just keep going forward toward the goal.
What was also acknowledged is something Warren Buffet calls the Ovarian Lottery. Buffet once told a group of college students that, “You’re going to get one ball out of there and that is the most important thing that’s ever going to happen in your life.”
As an example, being born in the United States in this era already places us in the “luckiest 1% of the world,” said Buffet. Greg added to this thought, “It starts there, and of course is influenced by genetics. Add to that being born with both parents present and engaged, relatively healthy, and committed to education and one's odds go up exponentially again.”
Bruce felt the same way, “Many in this country take for granted the many blessings we share. Being born to the right parents in a great country may be the luckiest thing that happens to us.”
What’s The Risk?
The risk is waiting around for luck to find you. It’s time to go out and create your own. You can’t do anything about the birth lottery, but everything that happens next is something you play a huge role in.
Jim Spuller summed it up like this: “Luck happens at the intersection of determination, work, attitude, gratitude, and fortune.” His point is that we can all experience some good and bad luck. That’s why the attitude and gratitude piece of the equation is so important in his view. It’s how we decide to play the hand we’re dealt that makes all the difference.
And just like that, I was reminded once again how lucky I have been to know these guys.
