How to Create Your Own Luck

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If I had to write a book in the future, it would be on this topic:

In life, you create your own luck.

You see, what often appears to be luck is actually preparedness. While everyone has an equal chance of receiving pure blind luck (where you’re born, who your parents are, winning the lottery, etc.), the ultra-lucky position themselves for a greater “luck surface area”. Instead of hoping for luck, they prepare for it.

Telling people to put themselves in a position for greater luck is useless. Everyone knows that a strong foundation is essential to building a stable house that can sustain the weather, but few know how to build a strong foundation.

Instead of telling you why you should position yourself, I want to show you a few of the actions I’ve taken to better position myself for opportunities.

1. Reach out to a stranger

In the past, I’d slide into the stigma of being shy, awkward, and timid. “Why would anyone want to talk to me? I have nothing interesting to say.”

(That’s a thought pattern I still struggle with to this day.)

But recently, I’ve realized that’s the wrong approach.

As a young person, your age is your greatest advantage. You don’t have to be interesting as long as you’re interested. Strike up a conversation to just listen and ask questions.

I’ve had tons of amazing conversations with super cool entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs simply because I sent them a cold DM and asked them to chat.

Remember: Closed mouths don’t get fed.

2. Work at a startup

Many people are proud of being #unemployable - but early in your career - there’s a ton of upside from working for someone.

Learning first-hand from others is a great way to experience what to do, what not to do, and the reasons behind each decision founders make.

Instead of focusing on making more money, focus on learning. When it comes time to start your own thing, you’ll have a wide enough base to construct your 100-story skyscraper.

You can't build a 100-story skyscraper on the foundation of a 5-story building.

3. Start personal projects

That being said, everything great in my brief career has happened because I was building my own thing.

There’s something special about working on a project of you’re own. There’s a level of excitement and engagement that can’t be replicated when you’re working for someone else.

I’ve started…

• 2 newsletters
• 2 Twitter accounts
• 3 Instagram pages
• 4 YouTube channels
• 5 digital products
• And more

The personal projects I built in my free time ended up helping me get an internship at beehiiv. But even more importantly, I had fun while building all of them.

4. Publish a piece of content

As the world moves more digital, building a personal brand has never been more important.

A personal brand is simply your reputation online. The content you publish determines the personal brand you create. If you write about fitness all the time, you’ll attract other people interested in fitness.

I wrote a thread on my favorite self-reflection questions. One of my followers saw that and sent it to a friend who also collects great questions. That friend happened to be the CEO of a $350M private equity fund.

Creating content is an opportunity magnet. Here’s an easy way to start publishing content online:

5. Join a digital community

The cool thing about the internet is you can connect with people from all over the world. Even cooler - you connect based on interests, not location.

You can cultivate a tribe of people all obsessed with the same things you’re obsessed with.

As James Clear wrote, “Join a group or community where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.”

• When I was obsessed with growing on Twitter, I joined a Twitter group.
• When I was obsessed with copywriting, I joined a copywriting community.
• When I was obsessed with newsletters, I joined a newsletter community.

One of the people I met in the Twitter group happened to be the co-founder of a well-known tweet-scheduling tool. This past week, he offered me a job.

6. Schedule “Think Time”

I used to think luck was the byproduct of rapid motion.

“If I hustle harder, then luck will come to me.”

But most of my breakthrough moments have happened not when I pushed harder, but when I stepped back and looked at the big picture.

Life naturally has a way of pulling you off course. Stepping back allows you to assess whether your actions are still aligned with your vision.

A few of my favorite “Think Time” questions to ask:

• What am I actually trying to achieve?
• Where am I hunting field mice instead of antelope?
• Can my current habits carry me to my desired future?

7. Build in public

If you want to grow an audience, write about others. If you want to attract fans, write about yourself.

The truth is people are tired of gurus promising the world to them. They don’t want another preacher shouting at them from the top of the mountain, they want an enthusiastic companion to climb with.

When you build in public, you manufacture your own momentum. This newsletter, for example, is my way of building in public.

As I navigate the uncertainties of growing up and building a career, I take you (the reader) on the journey with me so that hopefully, you don’t make the same mistakes I do.

It’s like hiking with that friend who knows every poisonous berry and every edible leaf. The recipe for building in public is simple:

1) Do interesting stuff
2) Share what you learn

Those are just 7 of the many things I’ve done to increase my luck surface area. The truth is, I’m still learning and figuring it out as I go.

But I hope this gave you more context of the game I’m playing online. Maybe next week I’ll write about the games we play (and how to know if you’re playing the right one).

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this epic quote from Naval…

Jay “Create Your Own Luck” Yang