Tag Archives: richard dreyfuss

Let It Ride on Luck

You’ve got to place a bet every day, otherwise you might be walking around lucky and not know it.  —  Character played by Richard Dreyfuss in the movie Let It Ride 

I don’t feel like I’m a lucky person. I don’t win at raffles or the casino. But if I really itemize over my lifetime the chance opportunities that have led to something great, then I realize how lucky I really am. For example, I met my now business partner when I was a teenager, when I interned for her over 20 years ago. A chance meeting begets a business? That’s lucky. Apparently, even someone like me who doesn’t “win” in the traditional gaming sense wins other things.

Do you feel lucky? If not, how can you be sure? When was the last time you took an accounting of all the times luck played a part in your success, big and small?

Knowing that chance presents itself outside of lottery tickets and contests, be on the lookout for other forms of luck. What types of bets can you place – an email to someone you want to meet, a sharing of an idea that you have been chewing on?

For more on placing bets, I recommend the book, Little Bets by Peter Sims. Written for the business set to encourage experimental innovation, the subtitle is “How Breaktrhough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries” and this applies to personal discovery as well.