40 Ways to Increase Your Luck (100th Post)

This is my 100^th post and I decided to look back at my past articles and give a quick summary of some of the many ways to “Get Lucky”.  One of the downsides to a blog is that new readers miss out on old posts that get buried along the way by new content so I am using this article as a rundown of some of my old content and a quick refresher course for those of you who have been with me since the beginning.  This article is made up of new content but each point has a link to a past article for more information.

Enjoy!

1. Take a Different Route – By taking the same route to work, school, the gym, mall or wherever you are going each day, you become immune to everything around you.  You can commute with your eyes closed without a problem.  The problem is that you lose out on any opportunity that may come up.  By taking a new route, you will notice opportunity all around you.  If you take a different route for a month and then take your original route again, you will notice little changes that you never would have noticed if you continued to take that route for the last month.  Little things like seeing a store opening or closing down can give you ideas of what is happening or working in the community and can spark many ideas.
2. Learn From Your Failures – the most successful people are the ones that failed over and over again and did not give up.  They are the Michael Jordans, the Thomas Edisons and the Abraham Lincolns of the world.  Unlucky people give up when they see that something doesn’t work and they move on to the next activity or just write themselves off as “unlucky” and live with it.
3. Pay Attention to the Little Things – Don’t expect opportunity to just hit you in the head like a ton of bricks.  It may but most probably will not.  Pay attention to everything around you because a little flyer on a bulletin board may change your life.
4. Set Goals – Without goals, you are just floating through life and living from day to day. Set goals for yourself and give yourself purpose.  Give yourself a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  These goals can be anything including financial, such as early retirement, starting a successful business, raising good children, losing weight, changing a bad habit or disciplining yourself.
5. Narrow Down Your Goals – If you have too many things going on, you will never be able to devote enough time and resources to each project.  Make sure that you focus on one goal at a time so that you can use inertia in your favor.  Once you get the ball rolling, it gets easier and easier to keep moving toward your goals.
6. But Don’t Lose Sight of Everything Else Around You – even when you narrow down your goals, you must keep your eyes open to everything that is going on around you.  It is sometimes the elements that you catch in your peripheral vision that get you ahead.  No matter how focused you are, you must stay informed of your surroundings.  For example, you may be starting a business and working off of a very detailed plan but then a new technology or trend comes around that can help you out.  You need to know about it and be able to incorporate it into your plan.
7. Be Flexible – Times change, people, change, trends change.  To stay on top, you have to be flexible enough to stay ahead of the change, to work with the change and adapt anything you have to that change.  If you are running a business and not using the newest trends to your advantage, you will lose out.  Today, it is the companies that are using social media to market their businesses that are winning.  The losers are looking at social media as something that teenagers do to waste time.  The winners are looking at that as a way to connect to their best audience and then even additional audiences.
8. Speak to Strangers – Be as social as possible.  The more people you speak to, the more opportunities will come up.  Everyone in the world has their own take on life and by speaking to as many people as possible, you can take their outlook and use it to your advantage.  Their outlook with your insight can lead to all sorts of opportunities and innovations.  If you want to develop a successful product, you need to know what other people need or want so that you can build something that will make their lives easier.
9. Use Social Networks – Social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Twitter and many others can help you connect to thousands of additional people.  The networks allow you to connect and stay connected to people around the globe, and allow you to learn from each other.   They can also help you out with problems as they arise by writing a twitter or a status message to your network.  With a well built network, you will have answers and solutions within minutes.
10. Create Value – The more value you give people, the more value they will give you.  The bigger your network is, the more value you will get in return.  By giving more value, people will give you more importance and help you out quicker.  People are social creatures by nature and are always looking to help each other out.  The value you give could be in the form of an educational blog, answering other people’s questions or lending a hand when needed.
11. Start a Blog – I believe that everyone in the world should have a blog.  Everyone has some sort of expertise whether they believe it or not.  Write about something that you are involved in, something that interests you or even keep an online diary of what you are up to.  There are billions of people in the world and there are people out there that want to hear what you have to say.  Besides, blogging has many advantages such as improving your writing skills, communication skills, computer skills and knowledge, network and discipline as well as it keeps you motivated and working toward your expertise and goals.  I encouraged my wife to start a blog and I plan on encouraging my children as well when they get a bit older.
12. Become Financially Literate – No matter what your goals are, financial literacy is important.  Just being able to understand numbers will open up so many new opportunities.  When people find themselves in debt and don’t know what to do about it, it can get them down and throw them into a downward spiral leaving them miserable.  Anyone can get out of debt, it just takes some effort to learn about what to do.  Getting out of debt can become your goal and turn a negative into a positive.  On the positive side, knowing numbers can let you make more educated decisions about buying stocks, getting into businesses or planning early retirement.
13. Go to Conventions – Go to as many conventions, conferences, seminars and tradeshows as you possibly can.  There is a reason that there is a term “convention high”.  It is because there are so many people in one place with a common interest and everyone is eager to share.  You can get more socializing and networking done at conferences, leading to so many new ideas and opportunities.  You may even find a new job or your ultimate calling.
14. Shut Up and Listen – don’t just talk to people and then wait for your turn to talk again.  Make sure that you actively listen to what the other person has to say so you can benefit from his take on things.  Everyone has something intelligent to say if you listen.
15. Work Hard – If you ask any successful person how they got lucky, they will tell you that they worked really hard.  Alan Bond once said “I’ve always worked very, very hard, and the harder I worked, the luckier I got”.  Work through the pain, the failure and the bad times and you will succeed.
16. Be an Optimist – Optimists are luckier that everyone else because they always see the positive in everything.  You give them lemons and they’ll make you lemonade.  By keeping your spirits high, you open yourself up to more opportunity.  The pessimists don’t even try to succeed because they predict that they will fail.   Henry Ford said “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right”.  Anything is possible if you believe in yourself.
17. Learn to Cooperate – One of the greatest things about the internet today or web 2.0 is that it encourages cooperation.  To get ahead, you need to cooperate with other people.  The world is not based on competing individuals racing to the top anymore.  It is all about sharing and providing value to others.  Bill Clinton, the Former President of the United States said “The characteristics of all successful communities: broadly shared, accessible set of opportunities, a shared sense of responsibility for the success of the common enterprise, and a genuine sense of belonging.”
18. Take Blame – Take the blame when it is your fault.  The best way to learn is by making mistakes and learning from them.  If you blame your failures on other people, you lose out on the opportunity to learn from them.  Stop blaming your parents and teachers from years ago for problems you are having today.  Grow Up, take responsibility for yourself, learn from the past and become the best “you” possible.
19. Take Advice from Experts – Only take advice from people who have already successfully done what you are planning to do.  Too many people take advice from their family and friends that have never attempted or accomplished what they are setting out to do.  If you take advice from them, you will end up exactly where they are.
20. Think of the Future You – Every action has a consequence.  Whatever you do today will affect yourself in the future.  For instance, if you have some money you can spend it or invest it.  If you spend it, it will be gone but if you invest it, you will have the money and more (interest) later on.  The same goes for time.  If you use time productively, you will be better off in the future.  It may be learned or practiced skills, it can be exercise to keep your body healthy or it could be sleep to make sure you function the next day.
21. Get Rid of Bad Habits – Bad habits can keep you down and hold you back from new Luck that can come your way.  Some bad habits to try and kick are procrastination, sleeping too much, eating the wrong foods and not being social.
22. Discipline Yourself – Discipline is very important in reaching any goal.  Without it, you will fall of the track somewhere and not know where to get back on.  Set up guidelines and goals of what you want to get done and make sure they are reasonable.  Then force yourself to do them every single day.  If your goal is to put $1 per day into your savings account, put $1 in each day instead of $2 to cover the next 2 days or $100 to cover 100 days.  Doing this builds discipline and will help you in the long run.  If you force yourself to put exactly $1 per day, you are likely to keep to it forever but if you put $100 at a time to cover the next while, you will eventually give up and stop.
23. Keep Up With Change – Be an early adopter and stay up to date with the changes in the world.  With change comes new opportunities to get lucky.  The internet brought along the opportunity to do business globally 24/7, even while you sleep and also give off the image that you are a large company even if you are just one person.  It also made learning anything at all accessible to anyone who wants it.  Every new online service brings more opportunity that you can cash in on or take advantage of if you keep up with the change.  If you don’t keep up with change, other people will take all of your opportunities.
24. Face your Fears – The only way to get passed your fears is to take them head on.  Once you face them, you will realize that there probably wasn’t that much to fear in the first place and you will have another skill.  If you hide from your fears, you are hiding from new opportunity that can be waiting for you.
25. Ask Questions – Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  Anytime you don’t know something that people are talking about or you hear a word or concept that you’ve never heard before, ask about it.  You may look stupid or ignorant but if you don’t ask, you will be missing out on any opportunity it has to offer.  The longer you wait, the worse off you will be.
26. Google Everything – Asking questions is great when you are with people in a class or a social setting but if you are at a computer, just Google it and then ask someone for clarification if you need it.  Pretty much anything you need to know can be found with a good Google search.  Learn how to use the Internet.
27. Take Baby Steps – Some goals look so far away and impossible to reach but the truth is that success does not happen overnight.  It takes a lot of work and one little step at a time until you come close to success.  I decided on my birthday last year that I was going to become financially free and be able to retire young.  It has been a long year full of great lessons and I came to realize that I am definitely on my way but I still have a long way to go.
28. Learn Another Language – By learning another language you increase your opportunity by being able to communicate with a huge amount of new people.  When you travel to countries that speak that language, your trip will be a lot more meaningful when you are able to communicate with anyone on the street.  You can also make business contacts in other countries and translate documents.
29. Do the Impossible – Once again as Henry Ford said “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right”.  Don’t look at something and write it off as “impossible” right away.  Sometimes you have to take yourself out of the box to see how it is possible.  Just think, the Japanese invented the square watermelon.
30. Use Tech Support and Customer Service to your Advantage – Tech Support and Customer service are usually free additional services that come along with a product or service.  Take advantage of them and have them help you through any situation because they are there to make sure you are as happy as possible with their product or service.  I learned almost everything I know about web hosting through my Host’s tech support.  Make sure that they show you how to solve a problem so you can learn from it and take care of it yourself next time.  Also, when given a choice, buy a product or service that has the best support attached to it.  That is why I love American Express.
31. Follow the Leader – You don’t have to invent something to be successful, you can just emulate what some other successful person has already done.  For example, you may not be successful opening up a poutine (a delicious French Canadian dish of fries, cheese and gravy) stand in your local mall but you will be successful if you open a McDonald’s franchise.  McDonald’s has a system and if you follow it, you will be successful.
32. Be Realistic – Don’t expect everything to just fall into place and for you to be successful right away.  Things don’t always work as you planned and don’t always happen as quickly as you would hope.  If you are realistic, you will have a much easier time on your path toward your goals.
33. Take a Loss – There are times when even the best idea and the hardest work just don’t get you anywhere.  There are also some things that are not in your control.  You have to know how to take a loss and move on if you want to get lucky because once you move on, you open yourself to new luck and opportunities.  Just learn from the experience.  You can buy a stock for instance and think it is the best stock in the world and then watch it drop.  Most people find it very hard to drop the stock before they end up losing everything.  Just ask anyone who owned Enron.
34. Stay Motivated – To get lucky, you need to stay motivated all the time.  This is not an easy task but there are some tricks to stay on track.  What I have found to work best are to hang out with people that have similar goals and interests, read as many books and blogs as you can on the subject and listen to lectures and podcasts on the subject.  As long as you are constantly learning, you will stay motivated.
35. Open your Eyes to see the Forrest and the Trees – Some people get so focused on a goal that they lose sight of why they had the goal in the first place.  Make sure that you always know why you are doing something.  There is a great video of 2 teams passing a basketball around that everyone should watch to see how easy it is to miss something if you are too focused on something else.
36. Clear your Head – It is very hard to work with an overactive mind that is full of every task you have on your plate.  Write everything down and clear your head so that you can focus on the task or goal at hand.
37. Look for the Good in Every Situation – Sometimes something can happen that will look like bad luck but is just good luck in disguise.  You have to look for the positive in every situation because your dream job may come as a result of a blown interview somewhere else.
38. Don’t Give Up – Too many people give up right before they are about to hit success because they have unrealistic expectations of how long it should take to be successful.  It takes years of hard work before you can become an “overnight success”.  Keep trekking on and  you will be successful.
39. Make People Happy – It doesn’t take much to make people around you happy.  It could be a smile, a kind word, a tip for good service but small gestures go a long way.  If you make people happy, they will want to be around you and will go the extra mile to make you happy.
40. Share Your Luck – If you enjoyed this article, please share it with others by submitting it to your favorite social media site or clicking one of the sharing buttons below.  I would also love to read some comments about your thoughts on this post.  Thanks.