How to Engineer Your Own Luck

The ancient philosopher Seneca once said that, “luck is when opportunity meets preparation.” In other words, the more prepared we are the more chances we’ll have to take advantage of opportunities when they come our way. I believe this is true in many ways. But luck is probably a little more complicated than that.

I’ve recently come across a formula created by author Darren Hardy which breaks down luck into all its individual components. According to Hardy, anyone can become more lucky by focusing on this formula. 🙂

The Formula for Getting Lucky

Preparation + Attitude + Opportunity + Action = Getting Lucky

• Preparation is all about personal growth – improving our skills, knowledge, expertise, and relationships – so we have the tools to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
• Having the right attitude or mindset is also important. Hardy says that, we can’t see what we don’t look for, and we can’t look for what we don’t believe in. Billionaire Richard Branson once said, “we are all lucky. If you live in a free society, you are lucky. Luck surrounds us every day; we are constantly having lucky things happen to us. I have not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.“
• Opportunity is the only part of the formula that we cannot control. Opportunity is when something positive happens that we didn’t plan for. The good news is that fortune comes to us everyday in many different ways, as Richard Branson said.
• The last part of the getting lucky equation is taking action, or doing something about the situation that is presented to us. This is what separates self made millionaires from the average middle class citizen.

I can vouch for Hardy’s formula because I have seen it work for me. 🙂 I have been very lucky when it comes to my finances. Here are some moments from past blog posts where I expressed my acknowledgement and appreciation for my luck.

I always had a feeling that I was luckier than most people when it came to personal finance and wealth building. But I couldn’t figure out the cause before. Seeing the breakdown of Hardy’s luck formula really makes it clear. I was engineering my own luck all this time but just wasn’t aware of it until now, lol. I think one thing I can do to improve my luck even more is to focus on improving my preparation. 😀 We are surrounded by luck everyday if we look for it. I hope something lucky happened to you recently. 😉

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Random Useless Fact

There’s something not quite right with this family tree.