Across the pages of the best-selling book The Luck Factor you can find a plethora of real-life examples of how perception is directly correlated with good fortune or lack thereof.

One of the most memorable examples is a simple experiment where Dr. Wiseman performed in a coffee shop where he left some money laying on the side walk just in front of the shop, to test the reactions of both lucky and unlucky people.

First, it was the lucky subjects that started the test, most of them did in fact notice the money, bought coffee with it, and invited the person next to them. Some of them even ended up with phone numbers, contact informations and new friends.

The unlucky subjects however mostly failed to observe the money, and those who did, kept it to themselves and avoided interactions with anyone.

A possible lesson from this is that while luck is unpredictable, it does help to open yourself to new possibilities, instead of focusing on the unfairness of the universe.

Another Stroll Down That Memory Lane

I’ve written in the past about how my entrepreneurial journey started in the nightlife industry. How I basically found myself parachuted into running a bar in my first year of university.

What didn’t talk about is how most my friends at the time warned me against accepting the offer due to my lack of previous experience. They told me that I didn't know what I was signing up for, that I would soon find myself way over my head, and that eventually, I would fail.

But I didn’t listen to them, mainly because we have different perceptions of things. What I saw as exciting, new and challenging, others might have seen as a possibility of failure.

To me failing was giving up, that’s the absolute zero. When you’re given a chance you take it, you don’t turn it down because the possibility of failure is on the cards. In fact, failure is a normal part of life.

If it’s if the guaranty of success that you’re waiting for, then maybe you shouldn’t hold you breath too long.

Though to be honest, I probably didn’t see the situation this clearly back then. We all have fears, it’s just for me the challenge far out-weighed fear.

So when I decided that there was no turning back, I had no choice but to inoculate myself against peer pressure.

Every time I was given those fear-from-failure warnings. I would just remind myself how most of my friends, most of the time much rather avoid approaching the girl they like for fear of being turned down, without realizing that by doing so they’ve already failed.

Nothing puts you closer to failure than not trying at all.

Contrary to the countless premonitions that I received, I didn’t fail. Was it luck? Sure, among countless other factors including hard work, dedication, genuine interest, good decisions…etc. You know the deal, you keep learning, improving and you build reputation by doing your best.

From there you know the drill, the more new connections you gain, the more doors will open themselves to you if you keep true to yourself.

In that case, it was the owner of the biggest club in town who asked me to organize a huge party in his massive club.

And once again, I found myself in an uncharted territory. And as usual, I was strongly warned against it, because it was a well above my pay grade, and that I was inevitably going to crash and burn.

And again, I thought that it was a great challenge and that it would be a good opportunity for me to step up. I ignored the fear-based warnings and took the chance.

Luckily, no pun intended, it all went well and everyone was happy.

The next year we agreed that I was going to organize three big ones again. One of my friends just wouldn’t seem to stop reminding me how lucky I was that every time I take a big risk, luck turns on my side.

I tried to explain to him that these are calculated risks, but he just wouldn’t entertain that thought for a second. All he wanted to do is to to focus on the luck aspect of things. That’s the explanation to everything.

Months before the third and last big party of the year, I decided to show him how things actually worked behind the scenes, that there is more to business than just pure luck. So I started to bring him along with me.

I started calling him from time to time to invite him for a beer or a coffee, and meanwhile he was watching me talk with all sorts of bartenders, waiters, managers from the all the bars, coffee shops and restaurants in the city. Doing so while offering them a cut from every ticket they sell.

My goal of course is to get everybody talking about it, and since we start on a different time than the rest, there was no conflict of interests.

After all, the best negotiations are those that end up in a win-win situation.

I was dragging him with me everywhere, to talk to tourist guides, to language schools, model agencies… Everywhere.

Furthermore, I found out that most exchange students in Spain, especially from American universities have some sort of organized trips to visit different cities every other weekend.

So I added two and two together, and I started convincing the organizers that since they were coming to my city anyways, they could do it on that particular weekend, receive a nice sum of money because they were bringing a lot of clients and so they can get a percentage from the entrance fees.

Plus, their clients will be happy for bringing them to a great party, and everybody wins.

During many of those efforts, my friend was present and he had witnessed a lot of other different strategies that I used to maximize my chances of success.

Everyone else just kept reminding me that it’s an overkill, that I didn’t need to do all of that.

But I didn’t mind.

The night of the party there was a huge line outside and I was busy as hell as you might expect. Out of nowhere, a hand landed on my shoulder and said to me:

Dude, I don’t know how you do it, but you’re always lucky!

It was the same friend that have witnessed first hand all the efforts, all the hard work, all the emphasis in thinking differently trying to find new ways.

When he said that, my head wanted to explode.

I wanted to tell him that sometimes in life you have to work hard and work smart, and even then there are no guarantees. But that no good thing will come from attributing the 100% of success or failures to vague elements such as luck.

That was several years ago, it’s like another life really. But I was wrong. I was wrong in trying to change his perception. He had already a version that he liked and was comfortable with, and I was being a threat to the belief system that he adopted. He preferred to believe that everything happens by accident and that everyone that had any type of success, it was only thanks to the unfair tendencies of luck.

That perception of luck was an escape mechanism for him. It spares him from any responsibilities or failures. It was his shield, and I wanted to take his shield from him and that was not my place.

So yes, I was dead wrong. I shouldn't have done that.

There’s a deep philosophical proverb that goes: “When people tell you that you won’t make it, they’re not talking about your upcoming failures, but about the chances they wish they have taken.”

I’m just paraphrasing by the way, and by paraphrasing I mean butchering into tiny bits and pieces.

"I hate that word—“lucky.” It cheapens a lot of hard work. Living in Brooklyn in an apartment without any heat and paying for dinner at the bodega with dimes—I don’t think I felt myself lucky back then. Doing plays for 50 bucks and trying to be true to myself as an artist and turning down commercials where they wanted a leprechaun.

Saying I was lucky negates the hard work I put in and spits on that guy who’s freezing his ass off back in Brooklyn. So I won’t say I’m lucky. I’m fortunate enough to find or attract very talented people.

For some reason I found them, and they found me." — Peter Dinklage

During the course of last year, I had two friends asking me for advice while crowdfunding their short films. My friends seem to think that I can see some angles that others sometimes miss. I don’t know about that, but I told them what I would’ve done in their place.

I gave them both the very same advice.

I told them that I would look for all the campaigns that are similar to theirs, and collect info on all the people who backed similar projects, I told them to be super sniper about it.

Then I told them to find those people on Facebook and add them to one simple list to be used in Facebook ads.

You don’t want to contact people directly, but there is nothing wrong with purchasing some advertising that allows you to be visible, to showing your product, and those who like it will buy it, and those who don’t will simply pass.

But I also told them to go 40 pages deep, 50 pages deep, 60 pages deep… That their passion, and how much they wanted their project to succeed will define the number of people they would reach.

As always, there are no guarantees, some people may like your products and other won’t. So the larger the number of people you reach, the larger your chance of success you will be. Hell, you might even shoot for that over kill, but you know what?

Sometimes an overkill is all you need.

Now, one of them loved the idea and took it to heart, the other one told me that I was crazy, that this isn’t how things work. That in ‘real life’, you just throw in your pitch, sit back and watch it skyrocket.

I told him that sometimes you have to move to get noticed, I told him that you don’t get discovered from the comfort of your sofa.

These were his exact words:

I disagree.

Fair enough. But here's the thing, one of them succeeded and the other one failed miserably. Can you guess which one is which?

The problem however is what the person who didn’t make it said afterwards:

“Dude, he got so lucky it’s not even fair!”

Luck is with no doubt and existing aspect of life. And as life itself, it cannot be controlled.

But if you find what you love and give it your heart, your brain, your sweat and your passion, then you will maximize the chances of inviting luck to tag along on your journey.

And if you make the right decisions and you don’t give up, meeting luck may just be a question of time.

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