How to Make Yourself Lucky

Curt Rosengren

Do you ever find yourself eyeing your distant dreams and hoping plain old dumb luck will bridge the gap? If you do, you're wasting your time.

Dumb luck does happen, of course. People do occasionally stumble into their wildest dreams completely by chance. And people get hit by lightning, too. But not a lot.

"Strategic luck," on the other hand, can play a critical role on the path to success. It's a product of focus, persistence, and putting yourself into situations where luck can strike. It's a calculated numbers game.

Want to build strategic luck into your path? Here are a few questions to help you get started:

What is my goal?
Clear objectives make it easier to communicate the dream to others and increase the likelihood that they will be able to recognize ways to help you achieve it. Clarity also makes it easier for you to recognize potential dream building blocks.

What are the factors that will help me get there?
Who do you need to know? Who needs to know you? What do you need to learn?

Where are the opportunities to encounter those factors?
Where can you rub shoulders and build relationships with relevant people? Where are the opportunities to plant seeds for your dream?

Where am I giving up too soon?
Sometimes luck comes just because you stuck with it long enough.

Who can I help? How?
Make a policy of looking for ways to help anyone you can. You never know when that will come back around to you.

How about you? How do you create luck?

After years as a professional malcontent, Curt Rosengren discovered the power of passion. As a speaker, author, and coach, Rosengren helps people create careers that energize and inspire them. His book 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work and his E-book The Occupational Adventure Guide offer people tools for turning dreams into reality. Rosengren's blog, The M.A.P. Maker , explores how to craft a life of meaning, abundance, and passion.

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