Do you have a definition of success? What is it? What do you consider being successful?
Success doesn’t come down to chance, it comes from your own actions. Every time you watch an interview featuring a famous athlete, actor, entrepreneur etc, you’ll always hear the question, ‘To what do you credit your success?’ They will almost always say, ‘I was lucky.’
I disagree.
Successful people may be lucky, but they made their luck by creating their own opportunities by building themselves an ‘opportunity engine.’ Here are six ways you can create your own luck.
Building a Mindset
To be ‘lucky’ and succeed in your goals and ambitions for yourself, or your business, you need to adopt an ‘abundance’ mindset. You need to realise that opportunity is everywhere. Developing this mindset is basically looking at the glass half full rather than half empty. You will start to think macro versus micro and embracing change rather than fearing change. Sometimes it may seem like you are trying to find Wally, but when you work hard and smart towards your success there is always going to be an opportunity that falls into your lap.
If you bite off more than you can chew, chew faster.
Say ‘yes’ to everything! Even if the opportunity seems to be not quite what you expected, you must take it. Otherwise, you’re only disadvantaging yourself and your chances for success. Richard Branson once said ‘If someone offers you an amazing opportunity. Say yes. Even if you are not sure if you can do it, say yes and learn how to do it later.’
Read. Read everything.
Keeping up with current affairs, politics, and the general media/social media, you’re already putting yourself at a great advantage by making yourself aware of the world you’re living in. Knowledge is king. The more you know, the greater your chances for finding opportunities, success in your projects or even that promotion you’re dying for.
If you’re an entrepreneur, for example, and you familiarise yourself with the world around you, you will learn about pain points for people and find what bothers them.
Create a product and sell it to them.
Branch out.
People aren’t just lucky to know certain people in their desired industry — they worked hard to make connections for that to happen. In order to make connections, go to meetups (Meetup.com).
Not feeling that party that you don’t know anyone at? Who knows, you may just meet someone looking for your skills.
Meet people and be memorable.
It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.
As well as getting to know lots of popular faces in the industry, it’s also important to be recognisable for your talents and keeping your social media at the top of your priorities. Publish. Post. Stay active on social.
This way will get you your fair share of freeloaders, but it does get you noticed. Use Linkedin.
‘What? That’s for old people.’
It isn’t. There are tonnes of millenials new to LinkedIn and using this platform to find graduate jobs and freelance opportunities. You have no excuses.
Get on Linkedin, be brave.
Above all — Be consistent.
It’s a saying as old as time, and for a good reason. Being consistent shows that you can be relied on. If you’re freelancing for someone, set up a weekly schedule. Post to social media at set times for set days. If you create a routine to build up confident connections and grow your social media following, you can only succeed from here.
Think of it like this: we are humans — we hate unpredictability!
Once others see that you are consistent, opportunities will start flowing.
Summary
Luck is a lie.
But, you can also do a huge amount to maximise your probability of getting hit by a lucky break.
This is by developing the abundance mindset, being consistent, building your network, growing your personal brand and keeping updated on current affairs.
Create your opportunity engine, tune it, and let it deliver you your ‘luck’.