Spent Saturday afternoon cleaning our garage. Feels so nice! Here’s your sign to give some TLC to “that one spot” in your house that needs it 😉

And with that, a quick word from this week’s sponsor!

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Long before it ever dawned on Steve Jobs to create the touch-sensitive glowy internet brick we now call the iPhone, he was a kid growing up in Mountain View, California.

He just so happened to be born near the epicenter of Silicon Valley, in 1955. The scientifically-proven perfect age to be caught up in the global technological revolution that birthed the ancestors of the computers we now take for granted today.

Right place. Right time.

Before J.K Rowling wrote the 9th best-selling book of all time, she was broke, depressed, and divorced.

When she finished the first manuscript of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was rejected by no less than 12 publishers before lucky publisher #13 said yes.

27 years, 8 films, one theme park, and hundeds of millions of books sold later, J.K Rowling is now estimated to be worth 1 billion dollars.

Right idea. Right persistence.

Michael Lissack spent 50 cents on a newspaper while awaiting his flight in 1994.

He didn’t normally read this paper, but he’d already read his regulars that morning and wanted something to read on the flight.

The front page covered a story about sketchy dealings happening in Wall Street, that just so happened to give him the information he needed to become a whistleblower and eventually be awarded millions of dollars for helping to identify criminal fraudsters.

Right knowledge. Right awareness.

John Lyke is the world’s best “blade camera operator” - meaning he captures cinema-quality film while frolicking around on roller-blades.

Seems like a silly skill, till you see his work on shows like HBO’s Winning Time.

Right skills. Right opportunity.

Each of these stories highlights one of the 4 types of luck coined by Dr. James Austin in his book, Chase, Chance, & Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty.

1. Blind Luck

2. Luck from Motion

3. Luck from Awareness

4. Luck from Uniqueness

Although his actions in life obviously played a huge role in the realization of his potential, the fact that Steve Jobs was born in the perfect year and the perfect place to become a modern-day technological visionary was absolute blind luck.

Had he been born in Kansas, or Ketchikan for that matter, or 10 years sooner or later, who knows what color our text message bubbles would be today.

On the other hand, J.K. Rowling getting published was clearly thanks to her sheer grit and determination to keep submitting Harry Potter to new publishers.

Had she stopped after the 11th try, we’d never dream of playing quidditch or shudder at the sight of the noseless baddie, he who must not be named.

Certainly thousands, if not tens of thousands of people read the same exact paper that Michael Lissack did that day in 1994.

But only Michael had the industry knowledge through his career to spot the clues, connect the dots, and understand what he needed in order to become a generously-awarded whistleblower millionaire.

The newspaper alone wasn’t the luck. It was the newspaper multiplied by Michael’s awareness and skillset.

Now, name another film school graduate who happens to also be a professional rollerblader.

Exactly. 

The fact that you can’t, explains everything you need to know about why John Lyke was paid hundreds of thousands for filming Winning Time or Swagger.

He’s incredibly unique - and uniqueness draws attention. The right kind of uniqueness is highly valuable. It attracts luck.

Why should you care about the 4 types of luck?

Because once you understand luck, you can create luck.

Sure, you have zero control over type 1 luck. When blind luck happens, all you can do is thank God.

But types 2, 3, and 4 are all under your control to some degree, and by building the right habits, you can make luck a common occurence in your life.

Like J. K. Rowling, you can meet new people, push through rejection, and perservere until your idea takes off.

Like Michael Lissack, you can keep your eyes open to spot opportunities your background and knowledge can maximize and magnify.

Like John Lyke, you can proactively develop a combination of skillsets that make you a category of 1.

Don’t wait for luck to happen to you. Make your own luck.

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Try it

Ponder ways to create your own luck.

1. Can you start by expressing gratitude for the good things that’ve already happened to you, completely outside of your control?

2. Can you be relentless about your goals until the right door opens?

3. Can you practice being more conscious, aware, and thoughtful in your day to day to spot oppportunities to leverage your knowledge for good?

4. Can you lean into unique interests you already have or have dreamed of pursuing in order to separate yourself from the crowd?

Pick one area to focus on this week, and see what progress you can make!

What’s the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to you? Hit reply and let me know!

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Want to sponsor an upcoming issue of Habit Examples?

Next available date is May 7th.

Interested?

Hit reply and send me the link you want to promote and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

- Kody

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P.S. These take 5 hours to research, write, and design. It only takes you 5 seconds to share.

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