On Luck, Work, and the Kentucky Derby

Over Indexing on Luck

Through most of high school, and a large amount of college, I had the tendency to say anything that went wrong in my life was due to bad luck. Whether it was doing “poorly” on a test, not getting the internship I wanted, or a social interaction not going my way. My default was “oh, I’m unlucky”—which is total bs. By labeling these undesirable outcomes as “bad luck”, I shielded myself from the reality: I did not work hard enough to earn my desired outcome.

My perspective on luck, I later learned, was primarily driven by my own lack of self confidence and anxiety. Rather than understanding that I was in control of what happened to me, I surrendered to anxiety, and as a defense mechanism, I blamed poor outcomes on anything else.

Obviously, this was ridiculous of me. I am very fortunate and privileged. In fact, I have significant “foundational luck”. I do not have to worry about my safety or financial stability, I do not face discrimination resulting from my race or gender identity, and I have wonderful family and friends. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people that lack self-confidence, or struggle with something like anxiety tend to fall into a similar pattern of thinking. Therefore, if you’re lucky enough to have foundational luck, it’s critical to break this model of thinking in order to benefit career and general life outcomes.

So what is Luck actually?

To me, luck is when you receive an outcome based on things that are truly out of your control. More specifically, I view luck as two types: “foundational luck” and “general luck”.

General Luck

Take the Kentucky Derby for instance. The other week, I looked at a list of horse names and chose Mage because he reminded me of the video games I love to play. I really did not have any control over knowing that horse would win, much less any of the statistics of his performance to guide my bet. In a career sense, a better example is sitting down at a bar and meeting someone who ultimately hires you. Both outcomes of these events were enabled almost purely by luck or chance.

Foundational Luck

This type of luck is fundamental to the circumstances you were born into. For example: being born into a financially stable family, in a wealthy country, and being free from racial discrimination. Each of these outcomes are given to an individual, and there is no control over it. However, they enable future outcomes (career goals, upward financial mobility, life span) to be achieved with less friction.

The Overlap of Foundational and General Luck

Truly understanding the two primary forms of luck is very important when starting in a career and carving out your place in the world. Those of us who grew up with the safety nets of foundational luck must learn to rely less on the core “luck” we have, and instead begin to create our own outcomes. Put simply, our decisions are our own to make, and our decisions are the primary drivers of outcomes. As an individual gains comfort in making their own decisions, it becomes easier to spot instances of general luck and to take advantage.

Neither form of luck goes away, but as we get older and become more independent, luck plays a much smaller role. Actioning on the luck you receive becomes the driving force in growth.

What does actioning on luck look like?

Fresh out of college as a junior consultant, I was assigned to a project that quickly became boring. I lost confidence in my ability to continue learning with the project, and grew disinterested. After a year, I had created the opportunity to change projects, move to a different team, and learn a different skill set through internal networking. Rather than continuing to feel unlucky for being on a less-than-desirable project, I took the plunge to fully change up my trajectory (it should be noted that I was a total mess in making this decision, but that’s a story for another time). It was difficult to leave my team that I had spent the past year with. I met a lot of great people that I enjoyed working with, but the new project ultimately was incredible. I learned far more than I thought I would, met some awesome people, and used my experience on the project as the springboard to transition into tech. Had I resigned myself to feeling unlucky and trapped on my first project, I doubt I’d even be writing this post today.

Make the hard decision. Take the plunge. Give yourself the opportunity to learn that luck is not the only driving force in your life. Use whatever foundational or general luck you have to its fullest extent!

Have additional thoughts? Connect with me on Twitter and let’s chat about it! Make sure to share with your friends too if you enjoyed, and tune in next week for an Interview piece!