The Science of Luck: How to Create Your Own Luck
First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo
Introduction
Exploring the concept of luck and its different categories, and discussing whether it is possible to create one's own luck with examples from NPR's How I Built This podcast.
E10: What exactly is luck? Luck is commonly defined as, "success or failure brought on by chance rather than through one's own actions." In other words, luck is a matter of chance. It's the element of unpredictability in life. And it's something that we can't control. Or can we? Some people seem to be luckier than others. Is it possible to create your own luck? The answer is yes. And today, we're building your very own "luck playbook".
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TOPICS:
4 Types of Luck (2:06)
There are four types of luck: blind, serendipitous, expertise, and idiosyncratic.
Blind Luck (2:15)
Blind luck is how we typically define luck. It's winning the lottery. This is accidental luck. There's not much you can do to sway blind luck in your favor.
Serendipitous Luck (2:32)
We're adding movement into the equation. You generate a lot of energy. You start things. This increases the likelihood that you might get lucky. How so? Well, instead of relying on blind luck, you put yourself in a position that helps facilitate serendipitous interactions and force yourself to find luck.
Expertise Luck (3:44)
You may notice that something lucky might be happening where others may not notice them at all. You put in many years specializing and becoming an expert in a particular industry, and you're able to capitalize on that knowledge and eventually create your own luck because you can see trends emerging before anybody else.
Idiosyncratic (4:51)
This is the hardest kind of luck because you need to build a unique character, a unique brand, and a unique mindset. This is the most powerful type of luck because luck finds you not the other way around.
Increasing Luck Surface Area (6:55)
You can build your own "Luck Playbook" by finding a community, gaining trust within that community, and becoming an expert within that community.
How I Created My Own Luck (13:05)
In October, 2011, I flew across the country to California to break into the emerging startup scene in San Francisco. I eventually ended up working at a cryptocurrency company. Working here. I saw the exciting new opportunity in digital currencies and decided to invest in cryptocurrencies.
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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.
Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.
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