71: How to Make Your Own Luck

Episode 71 Creating Your Own Luck - There is no such thing as luck.mp3
[00:00:09] You're listening to the Time to Level Up podcast. I'm your host, business life coach Andrea Libros. I help women in business commit to their own growth personally and professionally. Each week, I'll bring you strategies to help you think clearly gain confidence. Make your time productive. Turn every obstacle into an opportunity. And finally overcome the overwhelm so that you can make money and manage life. Let's create a plan so you have a profitable business, successful career. And best of all. Live with unapologetic ambition. Are you ready to drop the drama and figure out the how in order to reach your goals? You're in the right place. It's time to level up.

[00:00:57] Let's do this.

[00:01:11] Hey, time to level up, listeners, welcome back to the podcast, and this is the last of my creating episodes for a while, and this one is all about creating your own luck or is there such a thing? This, my friends, I have debated over the past few days whether or not to say on the podcast that there's no such thing as luck. But after pondering, I'm going to go with the fact that there is no such thing as luck. I am confident in that. Now you might disagree. But here's the thing. There is not one drop of Irish in me, so I think I'm safe to say that there is no such thing as luck. I really believe that we all create our own pot of gold. So today I want to share with you why I think there is no such thing and what this has looked like for me. But maybe more importantly, I'm also going to share with you how you can create your own serendipity. Ok, I want to share a story with you. And if this were a true story, it would have been. Me many times, so it is a true story. All right. Go back to the place where I say, but more importantly, I'm going to share with you how to create your own serendipity. Forget about the story part. Here is the reality, so I have a friend. In fact, I have many friends who are entrepreneurs, I have an artist friend, I have a fellow coach friend, I have a wardrobe stylist friend, I have photographer, friend.

[00:02:59] So many more. They're all entrepreneurs and they are all mothers and daughters and friends and spouses, too. And sometimes with these four people that I'm thinking about right now, I can talk business without feeling guarded, and there's something that we've all noticed and something I've talked about with all four of them. People make comments about entrepreneurs and about their businesses, and they think that what they're saying is very complimentary. They say things like, Oh, you're so lucky you can work from home. You're so lucky that you can be there for your kids and work. You're so lucky that you could go help out your parents when they moved. You're so lucky that you're doing something everybody needs and you love. Now, listen, I agree that I am blessed to do what I do in the manner in which I do it. I am grateful and my friends, they are grateful to for their businesses. But what we don't agree with when these quote unquote people say these kinds of comments is that our success or the way in which we work or what it allows us to do, has nothing to do with luck. It is not lucky, and I think this is really important for everybody to know whether you have a business or a job.

[00:04:31] When you think about what you've created, your career or your professional life, none of it is lucky. Now, this can be good news or bad news, depending on how you want to think about it. And let me get the bad news over with first. The truth is. It's not luck. It's persistent, committed effort that we've all put in to create the businesses or the couriers we have and to be able to do it in the way in which we do it, whether it's from our homes or from an office or from Starbucks. Ok. The reality is that every day we are doing things that really don't sound fun. Ok? But that we've learned to make fun in order to keep doing them. We talked a little bit about this on the last episode, episode 70, and we keep doing them because we've had to do these same kinds of things for a long time. We've had to hone them and tweak them and do them again and again in order to make them work like they're working now. The word luck adding that into the discussion makes it sound like we just kind of stumbled upon a pot of gold and some four leaf clovers, right? Like it appeared out of thin air, like someone dropped some magic fairy dust and poof. There they were. There is a there's everything we've created.

[00:06:00] Now that doesn't happen that way. But here is the thing. What we do have it is possible for everyone and anyone. There is no limit on the number of people that can be successful. Have you ever heard of a statistic of how many people can be successful and you don't have to start at a certain time in order to be successful and you don't have to make a certain move in order to be successful and or have a particular expertize or training? Because the truth is you create your career and your business and your life and what you want is completely possible. It's in your control. I 100 percent promise. So it is not about your niche or your product or your area of expertize. Ok, you don't have to be a Smee, a subject matter expert in anything. It's not about timing. What it really is. It's about adjusting and tweaking and honing based on your experiences and what I think or what you think will best serve your client or your customer or your boss or your audience. It's in my world. It's about me making it work for my family. It's about my own goals, for my business and making them happen, achieving them. Now, I don't want you to think it's about grit or hustle or blood and sweat and tears because it's not. It's really about small, consistent actions. It's actually not dramatic at all.

[00:07:37] So when people say, Oh, yeah, but that means I'm going to have to do more if I want to achieve all of this. That is not the case. That's kind of why I created the April event. Achieve more, do less. Ok. There's no drama in my business. It can actually be quite boring, to be honest. And I don't have to think about it or as fun, but I choose to think about it as fun. But it is really having the right mindset and the right systems in order to make it successful. If you haven't registered for April, achieve more. Do less. Go do it now if there's any spots left. Now there were a few small, consistent actions that I took and that you can take no matter who you are or what you do, and I'm going to share three of these. But remember, this isn't about doing more or hustling. It's not about grit, and it's not about luck. Ok? Some might call it serendipity, OK, but I think it is very much intentional. Which doesn't necessarily make it serendipity, either. Ok, now here we go. Here's three things that you can do. If you want to succeed, you've got to be ready for the unexpected, right, and you've got to turn it into a positive outcome, so I sometimes call this turning obstacles into opportunities in the way we do this is by seeing and connecting the dots.

[00:09:15] Ok, so you nurture serendipity, serendipity. I looked it up in Webster's. It's defined as the unexpected good luck resulting from unplanned moments in which proactive decisions lead to positive outcomes. I'm going to say it again the unexpected good luck resulting from unplanned moments in which proactive that means ahead of time decisions lead to positive outcomes. So how can we cultivate this sort of smart luck? All right, here we go. Number one is what I call setting hooks. Ok, so hooks. Or what help people get interested in you and help them learn what you'll find help you learn what you'll find intriguing about them? All right. So this whole process can start when you use memorable or engaging talking points, whether you're walking in the park with someone or on Zoom doesn't matter. So here's an example OK? When someone asks you, What do you do? What if you said something like this? I love connecting people. I've been active in the education sector and recently started thinking about philosophy, but what I really enjoy is playing the piano. So that reply included for serendipity hooks one a passion connecting people to a vocation which was education three and interest, which is kind of like the inches interest in philosophy and for a hobby playing the piano. Ok, if you had just responded with I'm an education, the potential for others to connect the dots would be kind of small.

[00:11:11] You're not giving them a lot of opportunity there, but by setting several hooks, you are increasing the odds that that person will respond with something like, Oh my gosh, what a coincidence. I'm thinking about starting a company, and my daughter just started playing piano. So these kinds of hooks, they allow other people to latch onto something that relates to their lives and what they're looking for, making the opportunity or the serendipity more likely. Yeah. Ok. And we can also give others the opportunity to set hooks in the way we ask questions. Right, so imagine you're saying, oh, what do you do? Well, that tends to box their conversation in. But what if you said, hey, what are you interested in at the moment or what is your state of mind or what's something you listen to recently that really got you thinking? Ok. Hook setting is an art, and we can set hooks in one on one conversations, but we also can set hooks when we're talking to a larger audience, even if we're not the speaker. So if you stood up during a Q&A and said something like, thank you, Mr. Speaker, for inspiring and inspiring presentation as someone who just went through x y z or as someone who aspires to x y z. I was struck by what you said about a b c. What would you advise people like me to do in this gives like the entire audience insight how you and your life and your career might be related to theirs? And in my experience, when you say this in a in front of 100 people, there's going to be several that's going to that are going to respond to your hooks and seek you out.

[00:13:14] Ok, so that's those are serendipity hooks. The next thing I want to share with you is planting bombs now, this doesn't sound like a very great use of words given what's going on in the world. But what I mean by this is to kind of write speculative emails or messages or DMs to people you admire. Ok, and I know several people who do this, and I've started to do this myself, and it's totally worked, OK? For example, on Instagram, there is someone who I have admired and who I'd love to be actually a guest on their podcast. And I messaged them and said, Hey, I loved your post on X, Y and Z and I've been listening to your podcast. Would you be open to a conversation about guesting? Right, this is kind of like a very low risk strategy to expand your network and nurture the conditions for serendipity. And if nothing comes of it immediately, at least you're on your the radar of that other person, assuming that they read their direct messages or their emails.

[00:14:30] Ok, so that's one way to plant a bomb. The second way is to do it within your own organization or your own kind of world, and that's inviting someone to do a coffee chat with you. Or a video call. Ok. Sometimes in big businesses in the corporate world, they pair people up randomly, but we can do this on our own too. Ok? You can reach out to anyone and invite them for a conversation. So that was number two. Planting bombs? Ok. And the third thing is that I just wanted to kind of remind you of is that serendipity or luck? It's all a mindset. This is all a mindset because we know that most of the world's top executives and successful people will admit that they achieved their goal or their position through not just their book smarts and hard work, but there also was some serendipity involved. So we can all do a better job of creating unexpected opportunities and connecting the dots with others so that they can help us or we can help them. And with the right mindset. Every interaction might open a new path for not just business, but what about finding love? Meeting an investor, making a friend, forging a new interest, landing a new job, whatever it might be. Ok, so it really is about mindset. All right, folks, that's all I have for you today, this was kind of a short and sweet episode, but I think it's important to recognize that luck.

[00:16:24] Is really not a thing. Serendipity might be able to buy into that. But really, what I want to emphasize is that even with serendipity, you've got to be proactive, you have had to have made some decisions up front in order to create the success later. Think of it as flexing your serendipity muscles. All the time. Ok, who needs? I want you to think about this. Who do you know that needs to listen to this episode? Who's one person that has said to you, I just can't catch a break or things never seem to go my way. I feel like I'm on a streak of bad luck. Just one person who's that person? Go share this episode with them. And that in and of itself, is you creating some serendipity because kind of like a boomerang, that goodness is bound to come back at you? Ok. If you want to work more on this with me, please reach out. Direct message me and we can figure out how to do that. And April 5th doors close to achieve more do less. If you haven't gotten your ticket and there are some still available, potentially go register at achieve more. Do less live. Have a great day, my friends. I will see you next week. And remember, it is always the right time to level up.

[00:18:03] Have a great day.

[00:18:10] Thanks for listening to the Time to Level Up podcast with me, your host, Andrea Libros. If you know someone who could benefit from listening to this episode, I encourage you to take a screenshot and share it with them. Ok, now what about you? You listen to the podcast, and if you now know that you're ready to upgrade your life, upgrade your business, upgrade you then stop being only a listener and start being a liver living that upgraded life. Head over to my website and schedule a call right there on that call. We'll start changing the way you think and act so that you can have the freedom to achieve the impossible in life and business and have the resources to do it. You deserve an upgrade. Let's do it.