[skipthemeat]

Luck plays such a major role in life that:

1) You're better off looking at things probabilistically.

2) You should seek ways to put the odds in your favor whenever you go up to bat and forget about the outcome.

3) When things are going your way, don't get arrogant. And when things aren't, don't get despondent.

4) You should keep going up to bat and let the law of averages work things out in your favor.

[adventured]

I strongly agree with the stray luck / good fortune factor. I'll add that I think there is the considerable potential to enhance the access to lucky outcomes and or the rate at which you can run into good luck events.

Simple, rather obvious things like doing (do a thing, take action) and asking (if you never ask...), dramatically improve your odds of causing and or colliding with good luck outcomes. They often take very little time as well. The biggest cost in asking, is typically being shot down; if you can handle that, then the sky opens up.

I used to be really mediocre at the asking aspect. I remember my mother telling me, when I was a teenager, that I was just like her, I never asked for what I wanted, and she lamented that the squeaky wheel always get the grease. That pissed me off, the projection of her flaw/weakness/non-action choice onto me. I've tried to remind myself since then, to routinely stab at the universe for stray opportunities by inquiring, asking, etc.

The first time I raised venture capital, it was because I sent a cold email to a billionaire. I didn't think they'd reply, and the email only took ten minutes to craft late one night. They replied and were interested in what I was building, and I raised capital from that person shortly thereafter. All I had to do, is do something (build), and ask (network the action I took out into the wider world), and I made a good luck outcome possible. Absolutely nothing would have happened without the ask; such a simple thing.

[skipthemeat]

Great story and agreed. If you can handle any perceived psychic/ego damage from being rejected, then asking for things is essentially "free luck".

Other ways to put things in your favor over the long term:

- Keep increasing your capacity to do things. Learn ubiquitous skills such as sales, basic accounting, negotiation, speaking, etc.

- Keep increasing your network. Asking is a huge part of this.

- Improve your signalling. Signal your achievements, your opinions...share.

- Grow your assets. Even if it means putting a little bit of money away or cutting down on expenses.

[sophacles]

I'd add:

Unless you have a good reason to say "No" [1] to stuff, say "Yes". Doubly so in outside of a "work task" context[2]. More experiences/involvements means more opportunities for fortune to look your way.

[1] Good reasons to say "No" - already committed, the ask will hurt you, I need rest, i can't afford that. Bad reasons - this is odd/out of my comfort zone/not interesting, it violates a routine, "I'm waiting for..."

[2] I really really mean "outside of work tasks" because just saying yes to every little request at work can result in work overload and the inability to do life. The point of work is to enable life, not to spend the entirety of it staring at $IDE.