I’ve made a few recent posts on the internet saying I was really lucky in life for getting the opportunities that I have. I’ve gotten a few mixed responses about it and I think it’s a good topic to talk about. The responses have ranged from advice to stories, but nothing anything hurtful.
During this time of unluckiness, one of the things I’ve been doing is just ruminating and most of it boils down to just how lucky I am in this world.
Whenever a successful entrepreneur talks about luck, there are two things going on: that they are downplaying their ego and that they’ve done some deep introspection on why things worked out so well. I would know because I do the same thing and the people I talk to do the same thing.
This article is all about luck. How to make it and how make the best of it. Enjoy!
Algebra of Luck
Luck is preparedness meets opportunity.
There’s opportunity falling out of the sky every second within every day but if you don’t have a net of preparedness, then those opportunities fall to their death.
I’m very fortunate that I was able to be a cofounder after interview 102 on my podcast but that took 100 episodes of editing and publishing my own podcasts to get that opportunity. I’m very fortunate to have been picked to relocate to Austin Texas to build something because of my reputation but that took me conveniently quitting my startup while persistently doing the podcast and I’m very fortunate to have gotten my new job as a food scientist during the pandemic because of how I told the accomplishments of Better Meat Co to everyone and branded myself as a man who gets things done.
To distill this, I think it’s important to mention making your own luck.
The main factor of controlling your luck is building your preparedness. Here are a few tips on how to do so.
- Keep reading: The more books you read, the easier it is to catch things and understand it. Not only is it important to be informed, but reading allows you to be open to learning new things.
- Keep doing: You can read all you want but if you can’t practice what you learn, it will go to waste. Write more through a blog, experiment more in your kitchen, talk more via toastmasters. All are forms of doing.
- Keep publishing: Share your work whether in a company or on social media. See how engaging your work is through a presentation lense and a content lense. I’m tired of bad wordpress/substack subdomains because the presentation means you’re not invested in producing content. Good content not only is informative, but it’s produced often and looks aesthetically amazing.
- Record your accomplishments: Quantifying and recording your accomplishments is essential. Sharing your accomplishments in a quick, concise and easy to digest manner allows you to bypass the gatekeepers and impress your bosses. If you made a million-dollar product, then share the story.
- Improve your network: Most rich people know other rich people. So eventually, you want to network with rich people. Be a good person, help people out, deliver excellent value as often and as cheaply as you can and watch your network grow. Good people generally want to help good people.
Blame Game
If you ever wanted to see people who constantly blame each other with no context, go to twitter. It’s a sea of hate with a few islands of community. I’ve been going on twitter a lot more because the news is so up to date but the hate I see is clear as day.
People will make baseless statement, or outright wrong claims and they can do it with no consequences because they hide behind their avatars.
So why bring this up? To talk about the opposite end of the spectrum. I have plenty of friends who are stuck and when I talk to them about why they’re stuck, they blame other people or events for their own mistakes. This mindset is extremely dangerous and you will most likely never crawl out of that hole if you think like that. A big issue is blaming others is a virus. Once you’ve had a bad incident of being blamed, you can spread it to others.
Some people get far blaming others. For example, Quibi’s CEO who used to be the top dog on some animation studio blames the pandemic for its failure to launch. Politicians blame people all the time too but let’s not get into that. Sometimes you can’t control the forces that affect your life, but showing humility of failure gives you points for humanity.
You have a choice to blame or not to blame. When something out of your control happens, and it will often if you take risks, just be thoughtful on what happened and go from there. In my life, there are plenty of people I could blame for some of my failures, but I choose to own up to it because it’s a lot less stressful to me and for everyone else.
On Privilege
This is a hairy topic, but it has to do with luck.
I once respected an entrepreneur who would post consistently about his struggles and hot takes in startup land. He’s around my age, smart, but very stubborn and had a fragile ego. I respected his points of view being transparent about losing money month over month and being open about it. One time he posted an article talking about his history being well-off and his grandfather making a fortune so his mother didn’t have to work and therefore, it’s implied that he was well-off even if everything failed. I lost a bit of respect for him because of that one statement.
Privilege is interesting and it’s hard to talk about because everyone has a different point of view on it because it’s really hard looking at different perspectives that are so nuanced.
For the record, I am very lucky to be a male Asian who’s parents would sacrifice their savings to fund my college experience and I think of the sacrifices and choices both I and my parents had to make to get to where I am often. My family only went on one out of country trip throughout my whole 18 years of childhood, I didn’t have a flip phone until high school, and I couldn’t travel abroad because I couldn’t afford it. I chose a cheaper-tier state school in my home state of California and lived with 4 roommates most of my college life while working two jobs on campus in both the food science and multicultural areas because I had anxiety being a cashier.
In some aspects, I’ve had the privilege of not having college debt which in my opinion, was the most significant head-start I had as an adult. The psychological damages of debt can stunt someone’s career growth in many different ways, but it’s all bad.
But in other aspects, I chose the cheaper, more uncomfortable option because money was tight. I chose smarter job prospects that set me up for future success too.
This is not to brag, to shame you or have you feel sorry for me, but I am laying the cards that I’ve drawn on the table.
There are many people who are much better off than me and there are people who are much worse.
Unfortunately, we are all dealt with the hand we’re given in life and it’s very hard to ask for a redraw. The issue with these types of situations is that they are complex and hard to relate to. At least where I went to college, African and Hmong students are generally from poorer area codes, get financial aid, but also have a large drop out rate. That’s because they were never primed to know the resources, they get distracted in college unless they are extremely passionate in the subject, or that they feel so alone because there’s so few people like them to relate to, that they drop out.
I did not have this problem as a middle class Asian American male.
There is no blanket solution to solving the advantages and disadvantages of where you’re born and how you succeed but what is important is representation. There are success stories throughout the world of entrepreneurs of all races and genders succeeding. There should be at least 10 in your specific category. Luckily we are in a world where there are case studies. The most important thing to do is study and even reach out to people like you and to believe that you’re not alone.
I look back at all of my mentors and I realized that they were all old, white men but they saw something in me that made me relatable to them. We’re still a tribal civilization at the end of the day. We want to find people whom we relate to.
I admit, I get envious when I see a young group of entrepreneurs succeed with a fancy PR article they got from a networking party in New York but it bothers me less now. They are using their advantages, they have an easier time. They got dealt a good hand. But a pair of 2’s can beat a royal flush with enough strategy, grit and dumb luck.
