I used to think lucky people were just… well, lucky. Right place, right time. Early traction built confidence, things snowballed and any set backs were spun to be positives. That job offer that “just landed”. The party invite that led to the introduction of new funding or finding a business partner. The dinner that lead to the new Non-Executive Director position. The one blog post that catches eyes and leads to thousands of likes and newsletter subscribers. The perfect timing of being in the right place at the right moment.

But the more people like this I have met and the longer I have watched how success plays out, the more obvious it has become: luck isn’t accident, I think it is exposure plus preparation.

Looking back, I feel like I am guilty in part of waiting for lightning to strike me. Now, I am leaning more towards increasing my surface area for luck – by putting myself in more situations where good things can happen.

What Luck Really Is

Luck isn’t a mystical gift reserved for the chosen few. It feels to me more like a messy overlap of two things: preparation and opportunity. With preparation, you are developing your skills, your mindset but also your readiness to act. When they meet with increased opportunity, there is a greater odds of chance encounters or just openings that appear.

Oh but how I have loved to sit still, stay safe, wait my turn for luck to arrive. I am not crying in my beer about my current position, I am luckier than most. But that doesn’t stop me wanting more and for progress to speed up. I also don’t expect that for nothing. I am happy to increase my risk to increase the potential upside. But luck has bad aim. The more you move, the easier you are to hit.

If you send your CV to one company, your odds are slim. Send it to 50? Suddenly, it looks like “luck” when you land an interview. I find the same true in sales teams where the best performer is often discussed as ‘lucky’ for landing that one client that changed their impact within the company and their remuneration in a big way; often they are also the highest call volume and networking people in the team. It’s a numbers game.

Comfort vs Opportunity

Comfort zones are the sweet spot that a lot of people seem to look for. I hate them. I always feel awful when I am not progressing and pushing the boundaries. Comfort zones to me, well, feel static and I don’t think any growth comes from here. The more you chose comfort, the smaller your surface area for luck becomes.

I have spent some time recently trying to calculate some additional discomfort. There are a few areas this has crossed over into; mainly work and hobbies.

At work, I have consciously made a decision to say yes to a couple more projects that I am not 100% sure about.

Privately, I have been learning a new skill that I don’t “technically” need yet. This blog that you are reading. Thanks for getting this far by the way.

Even a simple thing like speaking up in a room when silence would just have been easier. You don’t have to be fearless. But I think you do have to be available. That balance will be different for everyone I am sure.

How to Increase Your Surface Area for Luck

Now I am not trying to convince you or myself for that matter of simply throwing ourselves into chaos. Just like habit stacking, I feel like there are some easy wins for us to stack probability for luck in our favour.

Firstly, try expanding your network. Try joining some communities, meet new people and importantly, share your work. Im trying to do that with this blog. Helping others by also helping myself. More eyes = more chances.

Try some new skills. One driver for this blog was a desire for a creative outlet. I wanted to broaden my skillset, and I think the broader your toolkit, the more often you will be picked for opportunities.

Share publicly. Write the post, publish the blog, launch the small project. Visibility multiplies luck. I have managed to get my first email subscriber to the blog. Small wins, they are powerful and make a real difference. And I have done so by letting go of perfection. The website is not great quality and isn’t even finished, but I have done it with the help of no others so I am taking the win from that and sharing my journey as I go.

Say yes (strategically). Not to everything, but try not to let ‘No’ be the default. When I have been at my most uncomfortable, like interviewing for my place on my MBA, it often leads to breakthroughs. I was ‘lucky’ enough to be the youngest person accepted onto the course but I also put myself in the position of being brave enough to apply, get two strong references from significant businesses people and prepare well to perform well at the interview. I remember talking to someone on my first day who said ‘I wouldn’t have even dare to apply to this course at your age’.

Consistency! Show up consistently because repetition makes you visible. People can’t “get lucky with you” if they never see you.

Stories of Luck in Action

I once met a mentor because I turned up to a talk I nearly skipped. That conversation still pays dividends today. A friend posted a “throwaway” thought on LinkedIn and Facebook that ended up leading to his current role. He’s exceeding where he thought he could get to a few years ago when a change of role did not work out for him. Personally I have managed to get into a large property project after many other viewings and deal structures.

None of that was pure luck. It was the result of creating surface area and then being prepared enough to act when the opportunity knocked. This is where growth mindset is so critical and helpful. Get out of your comfort zone and increase your chances.

I believe luck is a system, not an accident. Think of luck as probability stacking, where each new action, each new skill learnt or each new conversation increases your odds.

By staying still, your surface area is shrinking to almost zero. If you are willing to move, learn, share and connect, your not just inviting luck, you are making it almost inevitable.

Final Thought

I don’t think either of us actually need more luck. I do think we both should try to consciously maximise our surface area. More chances to be seen. More skills to be useful. More exposure to opportunities that don’t simply come knocking when you are sat on the sofa watching YouTube or Netflix.

Im starting this week. On a very rainy and windy Monday. Starting small. One blog post, this post. Slightly uncomfortable position. What if no one reads it. What if I do 10 more and no one else subscribes to my mailing list?!

Well I think this is where luck tends to find people.

The harder you work, the luckier you get. Right?

That is not the full story. The more you show up, the luckier you get.