Have you ever noticed how some people are really lucky? These lucky people always seem to be in the right place at the right time and they attract great opportunities, as if they were a good luck magnet. Here in this post, I am going to show you how you too can become incredibly lucky too and benefit from endless outstanding opportunities.
Don’t confuse luck with ‘chance’
- Luck can be created deliberately using a simple formula.
- Chance is random, like guessing the correct lottery numbers, and cannot.
It’s true – you make your own luck
Thankfully, the old saying really is true; you make your own luck. There is nothing random or mysterious about ‘being in the right place at the right time.’ Everything happens for a reason, something scientists refer to as cause and effect.
For example, I was once referred to as lucky, when I told someone how I made a 400% profit on a property I bought. However, the financial return I luckily made on that deal was the result of deliberate planning – Not luck. The property had been on the market for 3 months when I first heard about it and had been advertised to thousands of people in the local press and via the Internet! None of these people invested in the house, but I did. I took an informed decision, based on lots of homework and feedback from experts, and then backed that decision up with action.
There was nothing random or mysterious about it. I identified a superb opportunity, took action and made my own good luck. It was just a matter of strategy.
If an opportunity comes your way when you are prepared for it (and you then take action), you will generate what other people refer to as good luck. However, if an opportunity comes your way and you have not prepared for it – you will probably not even recognise it! Equally, if an opportunity comes your way and you are prepared for it, BUT you fail to take action, you will stay unlucky. This lack of action is always the result of fear, (I will explain this in more detail in a moment.)
Why are most people so unlucky then?
The main reason so many people miss out on the opportunities that surround them every moment of every day, is that they fail in at least one of the following four key luck factors. To attract what most people believe to be good luck, you need to use all four luck factors. I have outlined these for you below:
Luck factor one: Recognise opportunities
Most people simply don’t recognise a great opportunity when it comes along! They assume that an opportunity is something that has a big, bright sign above it and some kind of no-lose guarantee. I have never seen a genuine opportunity that looked anything like that; but it is still what most people are looking for.
That’s why conmen have filled the Internet with get rich quick schemes, which ‘guarantee’ you massive wealth if you just buy into their ‘wonder product’. Conmen know that people are looking for an easy way to make lots of money, with little if any risk. If the conman’s message claims to fulfil this need for money-for-nothing, their scam will attract legions of victims. According to John C Dvorak, police found around $2BILLION in the hands of one group of international Internet conmen last year!
Many genuine opportunities come disguised as a problem. For example, a secretary who kept making typing errors decided to do something about it; so she mixed a flower and water based solution together that could be painted, with a tiny brush, over her typing errors. In the process, she created typing correction fluid that started a multimillion industry.
Luck factor two: Be prepared
In order to generate luck, you need to be prepared when opportunity comes knocking. In the example of my property investment, I had already researched the marketplace and knew what I could afford to pay. I took expert advice and studied the locations that were most likely to improve over the coming years.
As a result, I was able to minimise my risk to a point where I was extremely confident that this property represented a genuine, great opportunity.
Luck factor three: Take action
One of the best-known success stories in recent years is a perfect example of why action is essential in the ‘good luck’ process. When Simon Woodroffe created the internationally acclaimed ‘Yo! Sushi’ restaurant chain, he did so after acting on an idea that came to him from a friend; a person who had the vision to see a successful sushi restaurant but who did not act on it!
The success that came from Simon’s venture made lots of restaurateurs ask themselves why THEY didn’t open a chain of suchi restaurants or bars. They could have, but just like the chap who had the original multimillion pound ‘Yo! Sushi’ idea, they did not. You simply cannot ‘get lucky’ in business if you fail to take action.
Just about everyone agrees that the biggest cause of all failure in life is the inability to take action; yet people will do anything to avoid it. That’s why I developed my Motivation Master Class audio program. I’ve seen countless examples where people have missed out on great opportunities, through their decision not to take action.
Luck factor four: Do not focus on fear – focus on outcomes
There are two distinct types of people.
The first group are fear-focused
These unlucky people look at every opportunity or deal based almost exclusively on what might go wrong. As a result, they fear doing anything different to what they are already comfortable with (even if it’s not working for them). For example, businesses in this group are always easy to spot, because they quickly reach a plateau or levelling point and then remain stuck there, until the owner retires broke and in many cases broken too! Fear-focused people like to complain about their lack of success, yet refuse to take the actions required to improve their situation. They keep repeating the same mistakes, because they are ‘comfortable’ screwing things up for themselves!
‘Fear-focused’ people live their lives focusing on what they want to avoid; loss, lack, pain, unhappiness, rejection etc. In doing this, they have set into play their very own self-fulfilling prophecy; because as we all know, we attract what we think about. Fear attracts bad luck like a magnet! Just as plants need the sun and the rain to grow and thrive, bad luck needs fear.
The second group of people are ‘outcome focused.’
These lucky minority of people do their research and if everything stacks up, they take action. Do they get it right every time? NO – BUT THEY DON’T HAVE TO!
You only have to benefit from one great idea or opportunity to transform your entire future, so if they get it wrong occasionally, their successes massively overcompensate. Because they research everything before taking action, these people make very few mistakes and they minimise their risk at every turn; so any losses are minimal. They are risk reduction specialists.
People in this group are often wrongly called risk takers. The reality is that they are the total opposite, they are risk minimisers!
Summing up luck
To attract the kind of great opportunities that will have others amazed at your extreme good luck, you need to adhere to the four luck factors mentioned above. By doing this, you can transform your fortunes (literally) and far, far faster than you ever imagined possible.
Are you lucky?


BRILLIANT
Never heard luck described like this and for the first time ever, it makes total sense.
Glad you found it useful Kyle.
I’ve never found taking action to be a problem, actually. I think this is because at a younger age (10 up to like 17) my family has been very “if you want it, do it” and so have my friends. If you want to ask this girl out, ask her. If you want to go to the movie tonight, then go. If you want to learn how to ride a motorcycle, learn how to ride a motorcycle (which is scary, haha).
The real issue surfaces in planning. I realized this as we were running through the airport this Tuesday to catch a plane…planning is important. Of course, we were lucky and got to the US Army tank show on time!
I’ve definitely been working on being prepared. Action is wreckless without a foundation. Awesome write-up. I was skeptical about this new blog but it’s really fantastic!
Sceptical?
I’m from the USA. I spell things with Ks.
I know where your from.
It wasn’t the spelling I was referring to – it was the fact that you were sceptical / skeptical about the blog.
Ah. Well when you sent me the link I was half asleep and I was like “a blog about random ideas? what? That makes no sense.”
Now that I am…well…I’m still half asleep I seem to be getting up earlier and earlier but I understand the concept now and it works. =)
Great advice Jim! Being at “the right place at the right time” is sometimes luck, but many times it is being prepared and knowing the market to position yourself in such a way that you cannot fail (or at least giving yourself the best chance at success).
“Lucky” people who launch a business or product at the right time are, as you said, able to see an opportunity and act on it before everyone else. First to market is a powerful factor in determining success.
Rob – LexiConn
Some great points there Rob, thanks.
Giving yourself the best chance of success is all you can do. Do it often enough, and your ‘odds’ increase accordingly.
For every person whose success has been made by luck, there is one made by chance. Chance of being born into the right family, knowing the right people, heck, even picking the right numbers in that lottery you mention.
Yours is an interesting take, but it’s really the same story of be prepared, work hard, and take your opportunities. Some people will do all these things all their lives and never get as “lucky” as the guy who won the lottery by “chance”.
Which doesn’t mean we should stop trying to be lucky. But it perhaps conveniently skirts the simple fact of how our imperfect world works.
The world’s not perfect, but that doesn’t mean we should just give up and leave everything to chance.
That’s exactly what I said, Jim.
You started off suggesting it was all about knowing the right people and how bad the world is.
Now you say you agree with Jim?!? Yet your comment accused him of, “conveniently skirts the simple fact of how our imperfect world works.”
Marc. Thats gotta be one of the most negative comments Ive ever seen on a site. So, we should all go and give up unless we are born in a rich country or to rich parents?!? Please!
Thank you Sarah, I’m honoured to know I stand out so prominently.
“For every person whose success has been made by luck, there is one made by chance.”
So for every Donald Trump or Warren Buffett theres someone else who’s just as successful through chance?
Just ‘askin
Terri G
Interesting point
Thanks Jim!
The example of Simon Woodroffe from Yo Sushi is great. The fact his friend had the idea but never acted on it is amazing. I wonder how hard he kicks himself now.
Good point.
Maybe the friend was probably just not interested in owning a restaurant business?
Hi,
I enjoyed this post. There are a number of people doing research on this, notably Richard Wiseman. Also, we’re making a movie called The Incredible Power of Chance Events that will get into some of this. Have a look at our website – you’ll see that people are posting some amazing stories of luck and chance. Thanks for writing about this.
Hi Lee.
Thanks for the feedback and for letting us know about http://www.chancehappens.com
I have been brought up to believe you make your own luck. When I read Caesar, he says something similar about creating your own luck. I never looked at it as planning or strategy (am from the East End and those kinda words were never used) I looked at it as creating my luck.
Jim, I love these tangents that your blogs inspire, and how it makes me think to what I do, and where I could improve. I guess the next step for you would be a subscription community where us ‘regulars’ can focus on making our own luck!