Luck is mostly just math.

I recently posted about increasing your luck, and it seemed to strike a nerve with a lot of people.

People tend to think luck is random. Something that happens to you, versus something you create for yourself. And I used to believe that too.

Until I started noticing patterns.

A friend who "got lucky" with a big book deal wrote a weekly newsletter for three years. 156 issues in a row. Meanwhile, the average newsletter-starter calls it quits between weeks 14 and 16, according to Substack.

The woman who "luckily" landed a large partnership deal by posting on LinkedIn? She showed up every day with relevant content for two and a half years, slowly building her audience and contributing to the platform.

Notice anything?

Luck is a numbers game

Luck isn't random. It's about statistics.

The more shots you take, the more chances you have for something good to happen. The more you do, the more people you meet, and the more opportunities you create for yourself.

When I started my business, I thought successful people knew something I didn't. A secret formula I’d discover by cracking the code.

But after watching friends build their businesses, and building my own, I've realized something pretty important: the luckiest people usually aren’t the smartest people, or the most talented. They're the ones who front-load the effort.

They start out by writing more. They talk to more people. They launch more projects. They fail more often.

And because they create so many opportunities, winning opportunities find them.

It's really that simple.

Five ways to create your own luck

When you’re ready to increase your luck, here are five ways that work better than anything else:

Read more: Reading exposes you to ideas beyond your typical thinking. Weirdly, I've gotten more interesting business ideas from random novels and personal development books than I have from actual business books.

Write more: Writing isn't just about learning how to communicate your thoughts. It's about taking those thoughts and giving them life out in the world. Some of my biggest breaks have come from pieces I wrote months or years earlier that found the right person at the right time. It’s always interesting when I get a note from a new client saying they found my work from something I wrote back in 2022.

Build more: Creating real things gives you assets that work while you do other stuff. My first flagship course still makes money. I put about 90 hours into creating it, and the return on that effort continues to grow with each passing day.

Meet more people: When I built my consulting business, most clients came to me through a human connection. A venture capitalist I knew, a former colleague, someone I’d met for coffee, or someone I’d connected with online. The larger your network, the more likely someone will think of you when something comes along that’s in your wheelhouse.

Introduce more people: Connecting others is probably the most powerful way to create real value for two people at once. When you help other people connect, they remember. And they usually look for ways to help you, too. Start a spreadsheet of people you know, including their skills, competencies, needs, etc. And when you see an opportunity, get mutual buy-in and then make an introduction. Watch how fast your luck grows.

None of these strategies guarantees overnight success, but they dramatically increase your luck over time. And when you get just two or three of these right, it’s tough to fail.

The compounding effect

The thing about all of these luck-creating activities? They compound over time, a lot like investing.

Reading leads to better ideas, which improve your writing, which attracts more readers, which expands your network. And suddenly you’re meeting more people, making more connections, and getting called “lucky” by all of your friends.

The truth is, I'm not special. I'm not the best writer or the smartest person. There are tons of things I stink at, and numerous ways I could improve. But over the last six years, I've been reading, writing, building, meeting people, and making introductions.

That’s the whole “juice” behind my business.

The real reason people fail to create luck

The biggest challenge with this approach to luck is that you need to have some patience, and most people aren't willing to do things consistently without fast results.

Most people will write three newsletters and quit when they don’t get subscribers fast enough. They’ll attend one networking event and leave disappointed when they don't meet a new client. They’ll launch one product and abandon it when it doesn't immediately make lots of money.

But that's not how luck works.

Luck comes from an accumulated effect of showing up and making efforts. And this is good news for you! It means that every day that you show up, millions of other people are quitting. You’re leapfrogging those folks and increasing your chances of getting luckier.

The bottom line

Most luck isn't determined by random chance. It will be largely determined by how many times you're willing to show up, do the work, be patient, and be okay with things not going as planned.

So read more. Write more. Build more. Meet more people. And be a connector. Not because any of these singular actions will change your life overnight. Because collectively, over time, they almost certainly add up to more luck.

And remember, the people who seem to get the luckiest are usually just the ones who took the most shots. So start shooting today.

That's all for this week.

P.S. I'm launching something new. Keep an eye on your inbox on Monday.

If today's message resonated about creating luck through effort, especially building meaningful connections, I've got something special for you.

It's about surrounding yourself with thoughtful, driven people who are intentionally designing their lives and businesses.

Look for details in your inbox this Monday. I'm excited to share it with you.