This kinda reminds me of people who are “lucky” in their careers, too.
We look at them, and wonder, how is that person so lucky? But actually, when you lift up the hood, they aren’t. They’re working a system that’s almost as reliable as Harvey’s.
Dr. James Austin wrote about this in his book, Chase, Chance and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty.
He explains that what we think of as “luck” is actually 4 different types of chance, each of which will play a role in your career.
Type 1: Blind Chance
Sometimes you just get blindly lucky.
Say you’re on your way to work, you bump into your future partner on the train. Things click. You fall in love and live happily ever after.
Right place. Right time. You got lucky.
You were just going about your day-to-day, and something good happened to you, by chance. Totally accidental.
This sort of luck exists, but we can’t control it.
This is what most people think of when they think of luck. And when we see people get lucky. But the truth is, it’s not the only type of luck.
Type 2: Luck from Motion
A friend emailed me the other day (thanks again for sending through, Atieno Oyoo!)…
Good news, I got the job! It’s crazy how it all happened. [..] 3 months ago, I emailed a ton of people and spoke to everyone I could at my target companies. One of them reached out two weeks ago and said there was an opening, and directly referred me to the role. I got really lucky!
Was Atieno Oyoo lucky to get the opportunity? Yes.
Did her habit of emailing people increase the odds of her getting lucky? Yes.
This is what’s called Luck from Motion.
The more you “move” and do stuff, the more likely something will happen. Getting lucky isn’t a guarantee, but one thing’s for sure: the only way for sure you’ll get no ‘luck’ is to do nothing.
The lesson: Do more stuff. Send more cold emails. Optimize your LinkedIn so people are more likely to find you.
The more we go out of our way to create new opportunities (e.g. email new contacts, follow up on opportunities, etc), the better your odds are of being ‘lucky’.
Type 3: Luck from Preparation
Ok, a real story.
Penicillin, the antibiotic, is probably one of the greatest inventions in medicine. It’s saved millions of lives over the course of history.
But did you know it was discovered by accident?
Sir Alexander Fleming was actually doing a totally different experiment when he noticed one of his petri dishes was contaminated by mold, which ruined his experiment.
But then, he noticed something. Bacteria around the mold was being dissolved. So, he experimented with that mold — which led to the discovery of penicillin.
My point?
Fleming was “lucky” that the mold appeared. But, if he hadn’t been prepared and an expert in his field, he would’ve simply thrown the petri dish away. I’d even say that the ‘lucky’ mold probably appeared on hundreds of other scientists’ petri dishes, but they didn’t pay attention to it.
That’s luck from preparation. You’re so good at something that when good fortune strikes, you’re able to notice it and take advantage of it.
How do you apply this in your career? Pursue mastery.
Think T-shaped knowledge: go deep in one thing, and go broad in others.
Type 4: Luck from Uniqueness
Even if there’s not much demand for what you do, if you’re the only one who does it, more opportunities will come your way.
Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose strong Austrian accent and massive body made him stick out like a sore thumb in English-speaking Hollywood.
Instead of changing to the whims of the market, Schwarzenegger leaned into his uniqueness and became the go-to guy for tough-guy characters.
The lesson: Lean in & combine.
To get more luck from uniqueness, ‘simply’ becomes more unique. What are the weird, quirky sides of you? What skills do people in your industry not have? Instead of shying away from them, lean into them.
A practical example: If you’re a programmer, work on your public speaking skills. The next time there’s a big technical conference, you’re more likely to be asked to present at it.