I’m Just Lucky, I Guess

Did you know you’re more likely to find your next job through a random acquaintance than your closest mate? Yes, really. Loose connections are golden because they plug you into wider, fresher networks. Your friends? Lovely people, but they probably swim in the same fishbowl as you.

You might chalk it up as luck, your old uni pal’s ex-project manager just happening to mention a new gig over bad wine. But is it pure chance? Or do we have more control over “lucky breaks” than we want to admit?

“Luck feels random, but it can be engineered. Spoiler: You’re the engineer.”

Problem: We Blame (and Chase) Luck

When you rewind a career, especially when it’s taken a few wild corners, it’s so tempting to say, “I just got lucky.” Likewise, if you’re standing on the edge of a big pivot, “luck” feels like something that happens to other people. That’s comforting, and… total fiction.

Are you helpless, or are there forces you can actually harness?

Solution: Be Your Own Dr. Lucky

Enter Dr. Richard Wiseman, a psychologist who spent years dissecting why some people just seem to win at life. Turns out, “luck” is less fairy dust, more practical mindset and a set of habits you can actually copy.

Wiseman’s Four Habits of the “Lucky”:

• Maximise Chance Opportunities: Build broad, diverse networks and get yourself into new situations. Go to that conference. Message the peer you always stalk on LinkedIn.

• Listen to Intuition: Trust your gut, shaped by all those years of screwing up and learning. But keep your logic hat on.

• Expect Good Things: Optimists aren’t just insufferable, they’re persistent and resilient, which turns more “bad” into “not so bad after all.”

• Flip Bad Luck: When things go sideways (and they will), actively look for the upside. Turn that redundancy into a rebirth.

“Preparation meets opportunity and calls itself luck.” – Seneca (still relevant, two thousand years later)

The No-BS Version: Make Space for Lucky Breaks

If you want to get more “lucky”, you need to make it easier for luck to find you. Enter: the luck surface area. The more you talk about your interests and skills (online, offline, sky-writing, whatever), the more dots there are for someone to connect.

Whether you’re building a personal brand, switching industries, or just dabbling to stay curious, open those doors wide. Online and off.

Try This

List five ways you can show up outside your current bubble this month. Start with the laziest option: comment on a LinkedIn post. Then go wilder, like signing up to talk at a local event, emailing an industry hero, or just saying yes to a “random coffee”. Then, actually do them.

The Secret Is Bullshit

If The Secret worked, we’d all be driving Ferraris. The honest truth? You can make “luck” work for you. All that stuff you hear about being visible, telling your story, connecting with a broader crew? It’s the only guaranteed way to get luckier, especially if you’re staring down uncertainty.

Serendipity isn’t an accident. It’s an output. Insert yourself into the right places, and suddenly, things look “lucky”.

“The more visible you are, the more opportunities can trip over you.”

Mindset and Agency Actually Matter

Let’s get nerdy: Psychologist Carol Dweck coined the “growth mindset” the belief you can keep learning, adapting, and growing at any age. You might’ve built your career by being careful and competent. But, plot twist: It’s the ones who experiment and stay curious in midlife who get re-hired, re-inspired, and re-invented.

BUT A Candid Caveat

Let’s not be naïve: Luck isn’t distributed fairly. Privilege, resources, background these all matter. Some people have to work twice as hard for half the shot. Acknowledge that, and put your energy where you do have leverage.

“You can’t control the roll of the dice, but you can shoot your shot a lot more often.”

Use Luck to Get Lucky

If all this sounds like motivational wank, fair enough. Skepticism is healthy. But here’s the science: “Luck” is the cumulative result of curiosity, networking, resilience, and showing up. The more you share, say yes, learn from mess-ups, and help others the luckier you’ll get.

So, as you plot your next move, dial up your luck surface area. Share your expertise. Make connections outside your rut. Say yes more than you say no. And when something goes sideways (because, Faark, it will), look for whatever new door just got nudged open.

Try This

Hit reply or share: What’s the “lucky” break you’re proudest of or the one that never would’ve happened if you’d stayed in your lane? I want your stories.

“Luck isn’t accidental. It’s engineered by people like you who bother to try.”