How to be luckier – with a plan
Business and life has a strange way of giving out luck! Both good things and bad things have a way of sneaking up on you when you are least expecting them.
I believe there is a way to make sure more of the good things happen in business than the bad. I’m afraid this idea is based on the amount of work you put into something.
This is not necessarily working 25 hours a day without a plan, albeit my theory says that this will make you luckier than if you only work 6 hours a day, but developing a business strategy and then putting your all into it. It’s not a formula to make everyone super successful multi- millionaires, it can’t be, but it is pretty much guaranteed to make you luckier and to have more good opportunities come your way.
Luck – the self-fulfilling prophecy
It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, we all know that if you put your all into something, be it our families or perhaps our chosen sport, we get more back and that in itself motivates us to do more and to become better parents or squash players.
Just by writing this and articulating my long held beliefs, I can feel a significant new sense of motivation coming over me, and I’m feeling luckier.
The 5 hard facts about luck
These are the issues you have had to acknowledge along the way, when planning to become luckier:
- There is nobody out there looking out for you! Other than your nearest and dearest, nobody really cares about making you a successful businessperson. Why should they, they have their own career and livelihood to worry about and that must come first. This is not to say that people won’t help you on the way up, they will, but in my experience this will be in a collaborative way that improves their luck at the same time as improving yours.
- When the luck comes – you have to recognise it. You need to take your opportunities when they are presented to you – weigh up the risks, and if appropriate, go fo it! These lucky opportunities will sometimes be way outside your comfort zone. Don’t let this put you off; this is what makes it exciting!
- Luck often doesn’t happen on the project you are working on at that time. If you work hard at your luck, things will happen, but in my experience they are invariably not in the form that you have been planning for. It may be that you have been putting all your efforts into a new product or service that you hope will take the world by storm. What actually happens is that this turns out to be a damp squib, but that through your work you meet a new customer who is desperate to work with you in another field altogether. Lucky!
- Other people and businesses experience bad luck, and this affects the way they interact with you. It isn’t personal. Don’t let this have an adverse effect on your ability to attract good luck for yourself.
- To be lucky you have to be flexible. If you have put together a business strategy and it’s patently not working, don’t put your head in the sand and pray that it will all come right in the end. Change or modify the strategy – it will make you luckier.
The best bits of luck
There is no doubt in my mind I have been lucky in many business situations. I’ve also experienced my share of bad luck. I’ve always been a planner, and I’ve always worked hard at my business strategy. As a result I believe a good number of these plans have worked, some have not. The most interesting thing about the luck I have experienced is that, as described above, it has often come in unexpected ways, and as a result of my efforts in another field. These have consistently proved to be the best bits of luck.
Be lucky…..
If you have any comments on this article or would like to discuss any aspect of it please contact me at john.thompson@transcapital.co.uk or on 0845 689 8750.
John Thompson is Managing Director and founder of Trans Capital Associates
Image by: JD Hancock
