As I look back on 2021, I told Hubby we have been very lucky in our life and at my work. He said “Lei, we make our luck.” I said “I know, but what does that really mean?” I always believed in it but had trouble explaining it to others. Luck is after all based on random chance, right?
How Hubby Explained My Luck to Me
This is when he told me this great analogy that I want to share with you. He said to me, “Let’s say the best luck is represented by rolling a double six using two dice. If you only roll them once, your chances of getting a double six is pretty low. If you roll them twenty times however, the chances of getting a double six becomes much much higher.”
When he said it, it was a like a light bulb went off in me. What a great analogy and explanation. This is why the effort and actions we take in life increases our luck. I made my luck because I worked at it multiple times.
Key Examples from 2021
We now live in our dream home. We don’t own. We actually live in a rent controlled 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment with a large patio and view of a nice park in downtown San Francisco. We moved in a year ago. I can say we were lucky but I know it’s because I was researching openings diligently for six months before coming across this place. We also found out about the opening via our maintenance person who we have build a relationship for 10 years. Because he referred us to his friend, the leasing agent, we were able to put a deposit down before someone else snatched it that same day. We work at building our relationships and we worked hard to look for opportunities. The result is being lucky to get this place for our family.
At work, I have struggled at my job since joining Oct 2020. It was nothing like what I thought I would do. I probably thought about quitting 5 times in the first 6 months. It’s been 15 months. Now I think I might like my job. What happened? Well, we acquired a company. I started working with more competent and fun people. I started getting more support staff. I started having much more influence at work. I also got promoted 4 months earlier than expected.
I can say I am lucky, but I know I also worked at it. I changed my perspective. Instead of dwelling on what the job is not, I began to focus on how I can make my job and my work interactions be more about the things I enjoy – getting to know people, building influence, mentoring, and protecting my work life balance. I was diligent to find opportunities to deliver value to the company. Lastly I was bold to ask for my promotion with sound rationale
In both of these cases, I purposely “rolled the dice” multiple times and in different ways so that I can get the best chance to achieve a target outcome.
How Do You Increase Your Luck
Here are 4 tips to increase your luck.
Tip 1: Keep taking action toward your goal. If you first don’t succeed, try and try again. Give yourself the permission to roll those dice 20 times. Once you get that double six, it doesn’t matter that the other 19 times you didn’t.
Tip 2: Build relationships. I am learning over and over again, genuine relationships really are a joy and they can make life and work easier also. Learn how to build relationships without a transactional agenda. The best way to build relationships is to be genuine, proactive, interesting, and helpful. Who doesn’t like to know someone who have these qualities?
Tip 3: Celebrate your “failures.” this may sound odd, but you must celebrate the try. Otherwise, dwelling on something that didn’t work out will stop you from taking more action. The most successful people usually have many spectacular failure stories to tell. To be successful, you must keep pushing yourself to fail often and keep going.
Tip 4: Shift your perspective. I strongly believe everything happens for a reason. Even seemingly “bad” things can be a gift or opportunity. It is up to you to change your perspective to then be able to thrive from there. This is what I did with my work situation.
At the End of The Day
We make our own luck. We can decide when and how often to take action. We can decide how to interpret a situation. Those of us who make lemonade from lemons will have a better chance at enjoying our life and our work than those who just keep complaining about how sour the lemons are.
Best wishes to a spectacular 2022. I look forward to hearing about all the ways you plan to “roll your dice” of life and work to get to your ideal double six.
Your comments: What are your plan for 2022? What will you do in Feb, March to keep taking action when the new year push for change wears off? How do you plan to make your luck?
Like this article? Then help me share it on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc…
New to this site? Start here – Soft Skills – How to Succeed Like an Executive
Lei