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Most lucky events in life are opportunities, not outcomes.

James Clear

Ever heard the saying, “better to be lucky than good”? Well, I think most people that get lucky have prepared themselves to be good enough to take advantage of the luck that came up in their lives.

There are a few ways when only being lucky can make you rich. Winning the lottery is one. But any intelligent person will say that you will probably lose more money playing the lottery than you will win.

Let us do a quick math exercise together on this. The estimated jackpot of the Powerball drawing on March 7^th, 2022 was $90 million. The odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 292,201,338 which equals a 0.00000034% chance of winning.

Being the nerd that I am, let’s calculate the expected ROI for playing the lottery. For every dollar you put towards winning the $90 million jackpot, you can statistically expect a return of about $0.31. (Expected Value = Probably of Winning * Amount Won). About -2.3% return on your investment.

Yes, people get lucky playing the lottery but not most.

So How Does Luck Play Into Becoming Rich?

If we take a different point of view, let’s swing to the other side of the spectrum. We can count ourselves lucky that we woke up today, that we are healthy, and that have food on our table.

These are all things that we shouldn’t take for granted. That being said, what if we want to be a little bit luckier than this? Like being in the right place at the right time. Or striking up a conversation with the right woman who becomes your soul mate. Or getting that promotion everyone else wanted.

Being lucky is the result of a combination of chance, preparation, and execution.

Luck = Chance + Preparation + Execution Click to tweet

If one of those 3 pieces of the lucky pie is missing, it usually indicates… nothing. Meaning, it was just another moment in our lives that didn’t have any impact on our life trajectory. That’s what it feels like if we miss our lucky break, just another moment in time.

Isn’t that crazy?! Without the knowledge of hindsight, we would never have known we were so close to our lucky break or so close to not capitalizing on our lucky break.

But that’s just it, a lucky break is only an opportunity. It is a chance encounter that can be something great for us. That potential is only realized when we combine it with preparation and execution.

Preparing To Be Lucky

I like to gamble. But only with monopoly money or with very low stakes. But when people think about gambling on things like sports teams or horses, they do research beforehand.

If I were betting on a team to win a game, I’d look for who their best players are and if they’re hurt or not. What are the weather conditions or travel time and does that favor one team/player versus another?

All of this research is the preparation gamblers should do to make more informed guesses about the outcomes of the games. We can do the same preparation for a job interview we have coming up or a big work presentation.

This also applies to outside of work. Planning out the weekly meals makes cooking throughout the week much easier. For me, if I carry an umbrella with me everywhere I go, it is a guarantee that it won’t rain. But the moment I forget it in the car or at home, it’s a monsoon storm that will leave me drenched. Coincidence?

Each lucky, or unlucky encounter occurs because of our preparation beforehand. Without that previous knowledge, we have no way of recognizing that there is a potential opportunity before us.

Execution, You Gotta Want It

There’s a chance encounter with a famous person. You know they’re famous because you have watched their TV shows or heard them on the radio or read about them in a book. All of that preparation for this opportunity doesn’t mean squat unless you do something about it.

If you want to go shake George Clooney’s hand because we walked into the lobby of the hotel that you’re staying at, you have to do it. These openings (chance) don’t come by often and you know he’s as nice as they come (preparation). You have to build up the courage to do it.

What about if you want to network with the CEO at work? First, do your homework to make sure you know who she is, what are her likes and dislikes, and have your 30-second elevator pitch ready to go.

Then you wait for the right opportunity to come and when it does, that’s when you can’t hold back. This is what I did when I started my first job out of college.

During the holiday party, the CEO of our 6,000 person company was standing in line at the hors d’oeuvres station by himself. I had only 3 months of work experience by then but I was determined to make an impression on him.

I knew what I was going to say, all I needed was the right moment and here it was. So, I built up the courage to go talk to him. But right before I got there, someone else stepped in and started talking to him.

So, I left and went back to talk with my team members… Is what I’d say if I let one little speed bump get in the way!

What I really did was wait politely and patiently for my turn, shook his hand firmly, and had a nice 10-minute conversation. That led to a 45-minute meeting that we scheduled for a future date to finish our discussion.

Gotta Risk It For The Biscuit

Going after that chance opportunity to talk with the CEO was not easy for me. I had to build up some courage. What got me to do it was thinking about how he’s just another person.

He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like I do Click to tweet

Meaning we are all similar human beings that wake up and get dressed in the same way. Therefore, I had nothing to be afraid of. He wasn’t going to embarrass me in front of everyone or be rude, and neither will George Clooney (I bet).

We don’t know that each moment is a lucky moment unless we take advantage of that opportunity before it happens (preparation) and when it’s happening (execution). They have the power to enrich our lives and make them better. Otherwise, they’re just another moment that just passes by.