How to Increase Your Luck In Life to 99.9%

“Many believe that by being honest and open they are winning people’s hearts and showing their good nature. They are greatly deluded. “ —  Robert Greene.

There are two kinds of people in this life: Those that believe in luck and those that do not believe in luck. These two kinds of people have often seemingly diametric thoughts.

The former belief stems from a veritable cornucopia of rules, principles and ideologies by religious leaders. The belief is further propped up by mutating life events —  some that makes you feel hapful and overly fortunate.

The latter, in contrast, stems from a room of inveterate pain and misfortune. No one can convince these kind because of the aged-long experiences they have transpierced. These kind of people uphold the principles of merciless hard work and drudgery. It is very easy to identify these kind of people with their chorale: “You can never succeed in life if you do not work very hard. Nothing beats hard work. There is nothing like luck”.

Many of us have read books, attended conferences and discussions about luck. On top of that, there seem not be any improvement in our lives. This is rather because of the information we’ve gathered over the years — a mocktail of truth and myth. Once we eliminate the two of those brawny myths that have worked their way into our lives, only then can we unearth results.

Myth 1: Doing good will bring you good luck.

Myth 2: Hard work will bring you good luck.

You’re greatly deluded to think that by doing good to people or by your merciless drudgery, you redeem yourself more luck.

If you have read the story of Ken Saro-Wiwa (a Nigerian writer and environmental activist that was executed for carrying out a non-violent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoni land), then you might agree with me that doing good doesn’t bring you luck. There are myriads of other sad and terrible stories, that will make you weep simply because of the price paid for doing good. The sad thing about the popular activist story is that he wasn’t executed by miscreants. He was executed by the government in power!

I have come to a conclusion about doing good. Don’t get me wrong, It’s good to be good. But when it comes to getting a reward in heaven or earth, doing good guarantees you that. Your reward might be favor, sometimes, or might be received in heaven and not on earth as you hoped for.

Without further ado, I’ll be revealing the four irrefutable secrets to long lasting luck in life.

Rule 1: Be A Voracious Risk Taker.

Limitless luck comes to those who are aggressive risk takers. Risk comes in various forms and degree: emotional risk, intellectual risk, social risk, financial risk and so on. You’re scared to spend your last dime to pay for that conference that will change your life. You’re scared to solve that math problem simply because you’ve not been taught. You’re scared to approach that professor in the bus, because you feel he literally has more knowledge than you or because you’re overwrought he might not respond well. You’re scared of being a speaker in that conference because you stutter when you’re nervous. You feel there are people more knowledgeable that you and you’re worried about the questions they might ask. You’re scared of pitching your idea to that young CEO. You feel he might steal your idea and leave you empty…

The truth is, I’ve been there before. Mine was even worse. I was very diffident to talk to that “AI organizer” Guess what? I did talk to her, and of course, with a gleam of confidence. So I understand how you feel and I feel that way sometimes — the fluidity of your mind, yet the emptiness and confusion. But I want you to know that if you’re not willing to spend your last dime to attend that life-changing conference, you will spend it doing something that won’t yield returns. The math problem will always be there. You won’t lose anything by solving it. Solve it or not, another will, and you get to lose. Idea is a realm and everyone has access to the realm. If you fail to tell the young CEO you trust that really nice idea, the idea will be revealed to another and you get to gain nothing. You couldn’t work on the idea yourself. You couldn’t even tell someone that has the resources to activate well-nigh all the great things you’ve never envisioned from the idea.

Rule 2: Let Your Value Be Like Kuwaiti Dinar

Kuwaiti Dinar is the world highest valued currency. Imagine you are Kuwaiti Dinar for two seconds. How do you feel? Happy? Lucky? You’re not sure? Okay, now stop imagining. Until you strategically place yourself in a level of limitless value, your luck will not last.

Remember this Elon’s tweet that went viral? Do you understand why it went viral? Should I still explain the meaning of never-ending value?

Unending value makes your mistakes look like an invention. Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim taught me how to create uncontested market space thus making the competition irrelevant. CNN in 1980, were the first to ever commence with real-time news 24/7. Ford in 1908 were the first to create cars that were styled to appeal to the emotions of consumers. Know that by becoming an entity with limitless value will not only set you out to unending opportunities, but also will teach you not only to survive but also thrive.

Rule 3: Master The Power Of Gratitude

“Not only is a man not obliged to be grateful, gratitude is often a terrible burden that he gladly discards.” ~ Robert Greene

Gratitude comes in two main forms: words of affirmation and gift. Even if things do not go as planned, always remember to say thank you. Even if the person is not willing to help you, say thank you at least. The Bible understands how epochal gratitude is in a man’s life as recorded in 1st Thessalonians 5:18: In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I will not even lie to you. I take my time to appreciate people even when they do not help. The least you can ever give me is your attention for you be thanked. I’ve had series of testimonies over the years. People forget what you did but they never forget how you made them feel. Remember that when we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.

Rule 4: The Sovereignty Power of God

The spiritual controls the physical and I don’t care if you don’t believe. As far as I’m concerned, you are not the one that created the planet, someone did and that person has power and sovereignty over you. I believe in God of Christianity and whatever God you believe in so solely up to you.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 states, “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come. This perspective is based on a person looking at earth “under the sun” and not “under the umbrella of God’s will”. God in His sovereignty knows all things. The only thing you can do is to keep praying. He hasn’t forgotten about you. God is in control of His creation and you are part of His creation.

This post was originally published January 9, 2019 on Thrive Global.