How to Create Your Own Good Luck

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I broke a handheld mirror. There was nothing special about it. It was just a crummy old mirror. And it was just an accident. But that didn’t matter. Nowhere in the rule book does it exempt accidents. And so, just as the superstition goes, the next 7 years of my life were to be riddled with bad luck. That was the rule.

And as a kid I believed it.

I remember figuring out exactly how old I would be when my bad luck would run out. And being overwhelmed at the thought of what I was going to have to endure over the next 7 years. An eternity to a kid.

But I also remember the moment when I stopped feeling sorry for myself. When I made the conscious decision that I was not going to spend my life unlucky. That if I was going to have any good luck, like it or not, I was going to have to create it.

And so a belief was born. My belief that in order for me to be lucky, I have to create luck.

So I did. And I still do. Even as an adult.

I created the luck that put me in the right place at the right time with the right skills and was rewarded with the opportunity to play bass in the Broadway Show RENT and record an album with R. Kelly (before he started peeing on girls). I created the luck that introduced me to my wife who at the time was camped out where most of my friends now reside. A place I never would have thought to look if I wasn’t looking.

It wasn’t because I crossed my fingers. It wasn’t because I hoped and prayed for it. It wasn’t because I had a lucky charm. And it wasn’t because of some birth right.

It was because I was lucky. On purpose. I created my own good luck.

It didn’t require breaking a mirror or spending my childhood believing in superstitions. Although that did help. It just took four little shifts in my belief system.

Shift 1: Don’t Leave it Up to Chance

Spoiler alert. Crossing your fingers does not work. Neither does a good luck charm. So, don’t leave it up to chance. Take matters into your own hands. Be proactive.

If there is even the slightest possibility that you might slip and fall into something good you will likely sit back and wait for that moment to come. But if you were to completely remove that chance as a viable option you become forced to create it. And you will, provided you…

Shift 2: Know Your Outcome and Become Obsessed With It

Goals are great. You should have goals. Lot’s of them. But this is different. If you want to engineer good luck, it starts with knowing what you want your outcome to be and then becoming obsessed with it. That is not something that can be written down or acted upon consciously. That is not something that can be turned into an acton step or item for your todo list.

Being obsessed means not being able to sleep at night because it’s all you think about. It means starting sentences with I am instead of I want or I hope because in your head, it’s who you are. Being obsessed means that it flows through your veins. That there is no other possibility.

When you are obsessed with the outcome then the outcome is inevitable. It’s only a matter of time as long as you…

Shift 3: Take a Creative Approach

If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten. Good luck rarely comes to those unwilling to stretch themselves or think differently.

Try something different. If you want to meet someone new, go somewhere you have never been before. Do something you have never done before. Try something that you have never tried before.

If it gives you that uneasy feeling in your stomach than you are likely on the right path. Just keep going and of course…

Shift 4: Never Give Up

If you have made the shift in the first three, then giving up is impossible. You won’t be able to give up on something that you took control over versus leaving it up to chance. You won’t be able to give up on something that you can feel down to your bones and are obsessed with. You won’t be able to give up on something that has forced you to grow by doing something different than you have ever done before.

Even so, it’s worth mentioning. Don’t give up. Ever.

When You Create Good Luck, Great Things Happen

There is no magic here. No secret. In fact, you have likely created some luck of your own already. Now you are more conscious of it. So throw away your rabbits foot and stop wearing your lucky pair of underwear and start doing something about it.

Featured image courtesy of netsnake licensed via Creative Commons.