{"id":32590,"date":"2015-04-21T07:29:41","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T15:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=32590"},"modified":"2015-04-21T07:42:33","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T15:42:33","slug":"become-luckier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/become-luckier\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Become Luckier"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We could all use a little more luck in our lives. On the surface, it seems like wishful thinking to imagine there\u2019s anything we could do to enhance that. But most of us\u2014the overscheduled masses\u2014have engineered it out of our lives, and there are steps we can take to fix that. \u201cJust look at your calendar,\u201d John Hagel of Deloitte\u2019s Center for the Edge told me during an interview.<\/a> \u201cHow tightly scheduled are you? Have you got a breakfast meeting, meetings all day, then late night meetings? There\u2019s not much chance for serendipity there unless a fire alarm goes off and you have to head into the street. Create spaces where you\u2019re wandering around and exposing yourself to new people.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does it look like to make time for luck in your life? As I recount in my new book Stand Out<\/a><\/em>, venture capitalist Anthony Tjan, who conducted an extensive survey of entrepreneurs, told me that \u201cluck is often mislabeled in business.\u201d It\u2019s not so much that people are lucky, but that they\u2019re interested in other people and aren\u2019t rushing along to the next, better thing. As Tjan notes, \u201cLucky people have an openness, an authenticity, and a generosity toward embracing people\u2014without overthinking \u2018what\u2019s the value exchange?\u2019 It\u2019s just, that\u2019s an interesting person. It might be someone working in a restaurant, someone in an unrelated industry, or a taxi driver, and ten years later when that person becomes somehow critical, people say, that\u2019s so lucky\u2014they happened to meet someone in college, or they were on the same boat with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re too deliberate and focused on building our network, we often get tunnel vision. \u201cThere are plenty of times when you\u2019re going to conferences or cocktail parties, and you\u2019re thinking about where there\u2019s a fit [in making a connection],\u201d says Tjan<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to quickly assess and screen value, and we all fall prey to that.\u201d Unfortunately, that means you may overlook anyone who deviates from the stereotype of what a great leader or rising professional \u201cshould\u201d look like. You may miss the shy entrepreneur hiding in the corner, or the guy wearing nerdy clothes who turns out to be an influential blogger.<\/p>\n

People who self-identify as \u201clucky\u201d\u2014and are therefore perhaps a little more laid-back and open to chance\u2014\u201care the ones who discover the wallflowers,\u201d says Tjan, \u201cand they benefit disproportionately later in life from some of those relationships.\u201d While it\u2019s critical to work hard and make your own opportunities, it pays to recognize that we don\u2019t have to control everything in life. Leave room in your schedule for the unexpected\u2014the colleague popping by your office with an interesting idea, or the chance to take a surprise call from an old friend you haven\u2019t spoken with in ages. If you\u2019re too Type A to even know where to begin, you can follow the lead of one self-described \u201clucky\u201d person interviewed by psychologist Richard Wiseman, who revealed that in order to force himself to diversify the types of people he talked to, he would attend an event and approach only people wearing a particular color. If your network is too heavy with fellow marketers, or thirty-something tech guys, or mom entrepreneurs, make it a point to attend events that attract a wide cross-section\u2014and avoid clustering in homogeneous groups by using the \u201ccolored shirt\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible to bring more serendipity into your life, if you avoid overscheduling and leave room during the day for the unexpected. By seeking out people you wouldn\u2019t normally come across and inviting unusual connections, you can develop relationships that pay dividends you can\u2019t even imagine.<\/p>\n

Dorie Clark<\/a> is a marketing strategist and professional speaker who teaches at Duke University\u2019s Fuqua School of Business. She is the author of Reinventing You<\/a> and Stand Out<\/a>. You can receive her free Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook<\/a> and follow her on Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We could all use a little more luck in our lives. On the surface, it seems like wishful thinking to imagine there\u2019s anything we could do to enhance that. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":32625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2162],"tags":[497,1122,4253,66,4629,513],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Become Luckier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Become Luckier: We could all use a little more luck in our lives. 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