3142: [Part 2] How to Make Your Own Luck by Mark Manson on Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Fortunes

[00:00:00] Before we start, please check out our new podcast, Good Sleep.

[00:00:03] Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep?

[00:00:08] That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep.

[00:00:11] Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily is here to help ease you into a peaceful

[00:00:15] night's rest with some positive affirmations.

[00:00:18] And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture

[00:00:22] positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

[00:00:26] So press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's

[00:00:30] sleep.

[00:00:31] Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal

[00:00:36] Living Daily.

[00:00:38] This is Optimal Living Daily, episode 3142 How to Make Your Own Luck, part two by Mark

[00:00:45] Manson of markmanson.net and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:49] Welcome to the old podcast, the OLD podcast, Optimal Living Daily where I read to

[00:00:55] you like a big ongoing audiobook from many different authors, but today being a continuation

[00:01:00] from yesterday so I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first.

[00:01:03] If you're all caught up let's get right to part two and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:13] How to Make Your Own Luck, Part 2 by Mark Manson of markmanson.net

[00:01:19] Number 2, periodically do something stupid.

[00:01:24] The perception of luck is more likely to fall on those who take a dumb risk or two.

[00:01:29] Again, it comes back to our perceptual biases.

[00:01:33] We notice these spectacular successes and quickly forget about the fizzled failures.

[00:01:39] If you're on vacation with your buddy and he decides to go on to the strip club by

[00:01:42] himself at 5am and next thing you know he's showing up in your hotel room at noon

[00:01:48] with two women on his arm and stories about partying with Charlie Sheen all morning.

[00:01:53] Those are, he's not some divine purveyor of fortune but rather he's had a lot of meaningless

[00:01:59] lackluster nights at strip clubs and this time he happened to wander into the right one

[00:02:05] at the right moment.

[00:02:06] Spontaneity will open you up to more potential opportunities and adventures.

[00:02:12] Falling into the same drab fixed routine is going to yield less unexpected opportunities

[00:02:19] and fewer possible big gains.

[00:02:22] There's a horizon to our ability to see opportunities when we pursue certain actions.

[00:02:27] For instance, we may see the one clear opportunity available if we quit our job or move to a

[00:02:34] new country or take up a new hobby but we don't see the other opportunities that

[00:02:39] job, that move or that hobby will lead to.

[00:02:43] For instance, when I started working online, I thought it was my internet business or

[00:02:48] bust.

[00:02:49] I either made it work or I'd be dutifully gulped back up by the 9-5 world.

[00:02:56] But over the years, I've met people and had opportunities for business ventures in places

[00:03:01] as odd as Thailand, Ukraine and Brazil.

[00:03:04] I've made friends of different industries in the most random of ways and have developed

[00:03:09] connections that keep me confident that I'll never have to work a day job again for

[00:03:14] the rest of my life.

[00:03:16] One chances are if I had acted on any of those opportunities, they wouldn't have completely

[00:03:21] worked out but would have opened me up to a whole new host of opportunities I can't

[00:03:26] fathom at the moment.

[00:03:28] Such is success.

[00:03:30] A long, painful string of failed shots and course corrections.

[00:03:35] What is commonly perceived as luck is often merely someone who wasn't afraid to screw

[00:03:39] up a few dozen times.

[00:03:42] The point is this.

[00:03:44] Be open-minded and spontaneous.

[00:03:47] The guy with the hideous shirt may actually be the perfect business partner for your new

[00:03:51] venture.

[00:03:52] The networking event your brother is dragging you to could actually score you court side

[00:03:57] tickets to a playoff basketball game.

[00:04:00] That guy who sold you coke might introduce you to your future spouse and you never

[00:04:04] know.

[00:04:05] Okay, probably not.

[00:04:07] Number 3.

[00:04:09] Maximize Your Return On Luck.

[00:04:12] Many two researchers finished up a nine-year study on luck and its role in determining

[00:04:17] the fate of the most successful companies in the world.

[00:04:22] Did tycoons such as Bill Gates simply get bigger lucky breaks more often?

[00:04:27] Did software businesses go under when Microsoft thrived because of unfortunate circumstances

[00:04:32] because of unpredictable events outside of their control which derailed their company?

[00:04:38] The surprising answer is no.

[00:04:41] In fact, the researchers found after measuring 230 luck events over dozens of businesses that

[00:04:48] the ultra successful businesses did not receive any more lucky breaks than the companies that

[00:04:53] failed on average and vice versa.

[00:04:56] What set them apart is something they dubbed return on luck or ROL.

[00:05:03] All businesses have positive and negative events impact their businesses in unpredictable

[00:05:08] ways.

[00:05:10] What sets the successful companies apart from the others is that they maximize their positive

[00:05:14] luck and minimize their negative luck.

[00:05:18] They get a high ROL.

[00:05:20] When Bill Gates found out that he had the opportunity to program an operating system

[00:05:24] from the original Altair, he stayed up for weeks on end skipping classes often not

[00:05:30] sleeping for days at a time to take advantage of the opportunity.

[00:05:34] He was able to recognize that this was a once in a lifetime moment and he had

[00:05:39] the wherewithal to push through and take advantage of it.

[00:05:43] That's a high ROL.

[00:05:46] Researchers found that the ultra successful companies regularly did this and even though

[00:05:51] other companies were exposed to similar lucky circumstances, the most successful companies

[00:05:56] took far more advantage of the serendipitous situation.

[00:06:01] In addition, the best companies were able to minimize bad luck the most successfully

[00:06:07] or even in some cases turned bad luck into a strength and an advantage.

[00:06:11] The companies that failed?

[00:06:13] Not so much as soon as disaster struck, they caved.

[00:06:18] And number four, be optimistic.

[00:06:22] Not to rattle off the ridiculous list of the benefits of optimism or anything, optimists

[00:06:27] are healthier, happier, more successful, more likeable, they live longer and so

[00:06:32] on, but being optimistic and generally expecting the best of people and things around you goes

[00:06:38] a long way to accomplishing bullet point number one from yesterday.

[00:06:42] That is, no one likes hanging out with a negative.

[00:06:46] But beyond just helping you become the most popular girl at the prom like you've always

[00:06:50] wanted to be, optimism and overestimation of oneself is more likely to lead to

[00:06:56] successful performance.

[00:06:59] Even the belief that one is lucky can alter one's results drastically, score another point

[00:07:05] for adopting positive beliefs.

[00:07:08] But this isn't hocus pocus stuff.

[00:07:10] Our performance usually rises to the level of our expectations.

[00:07:15] If you consistently expect yourself to be better than you actually are, then research suggests

[00:07:21] that you're more likely to improve and have a large breakthrough.

[00:07:25] A little bit of healthy delusion goes a long way.

[00:07:28] And in terms of optimism and pessimism, think of it this way.

[00:07:33] Optimists are more likely to identify a lot of false positives, believing something is

[00:07:38] good when it's really bad.

[00:07:41] While pessimists will more likely identify false negatives, believing something is bad

[00:07:47] when it's actually good.

[00:07:48] It's not hard to see what is more advantageous.

[00:07:53] While optimists will sometimes mistake a steaming t-

[00:07:56] for pure gold, they'll not miss a piece of genuine gold when it crosses their path.

[00:08:02] Pessimists on the other hand will spot every steaming t-

[00:08:06] they come across and duly let you know about it I'm sure.

[00:08:09] But they will also mistake opportunities of genuine gold and let them slip away.

[00:08:15] Kind of like it.

[00:08:17] So are you in the business of spotting t-

[00:08:20] or spotting gold?

[00:08:24] You just listened to part two of the post titled,

[00:08:28] How to Make Your Own Luck by Mark Manson of markmanson.net

[00:08:32] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:34] Okay, sponsor time.

[00:08:36] And instead of reading a script about gusto's benefits, let's hear from

[00:08:39] small business owners, the people who use gusto every day like me.

[00:08:42] Here's one.

[00:08:43] With gusto, I think of payroll as a 30 second job.

[00:08:46] The website is so friendly and a joy to use.

[00:08:49] Friendly payroll?

[00:08:51] You don't hear that every day.

[00:08:52] Amy from Utah says, I love gusto so much.

[00:08:55] They do our medical, dental, vision and life insurance.

[00:08:59] It's so painless.

[00:09:00] It's like going to the spa.

[00:09:02] And we have great options and rates even though we're a super small team.

[00:09:05] Health insurance like going to the spa?

[00:09:07] Wow.

[00:09:08] And here's what Mneet says about gusto's support team.

[00:09:11] Whenever something comes up, I reach out and literally 24 hours later they tell us

[00:09:15] what to do or assure us that they've already handled it for us.

[00:09:20] Smart technology and friendly humans?

[00:09:22] That's cool.

[00:09:23] Honestly, the list goes on and right now our listeners get three months free

[00:09:27] when they go to gusto.com slash old.

[00:09:30] Yep, three months of payroll, benefits admin and more totally free.

[00:09:35] Again, that's gusto.com slash OLD.

[00:09:40] Thank you again to Mark.

[00:09:42] I always have to bleep out words in his articles.

[00:09:44] Good times.

[00:09:45] If I don't, the episode gets flagged as mature content

[00:09:49] and then is automatically banned from certain countries.

[00:09:52] Kind of crazy.

[00:09:53] Anyway, the periodically doing something stupid thing is a bit extreme

[00:09:59] as Mark's writing tends to be.

[00:10:01] But this can be small things as well.

[00:10:04] Really, I think it's just getting a bit outside our comfort zone.

[00:10:08] Because it's true, the more our days are exactly the same

[00:10:13] like the less spontaneity and exposure to random things,

[00:10:17] well, the fewer the opportunities.

[00:10:19] Even though he said to be a social butterfly yesterday,

[00:10:23] I don't think that's always necessary.

[00:10:25] It helps.

[00:10:26] But even shy introverts like me can pull it off

[00:10:29] under the right circumstances.

[00:10:31] It might take some practice in getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

[00:10:36] But it is possible.

[00:10:38] And I think it does help to break out of the day-to-day

[00:10:41] everything is the same sort of routine.

[00:10:44] Like he said, and I thought this was a great quote,

[00:10:47] falling into the same drab fixed routine

[00:10:50] is going to yield less unexpected opportunities

[00:10:54] and fewer possible big gains.

[00:10:57] So something to think about today as you go about your routine.

[00:11:00] I'll do the same.

[00:11:02] Thank you for being here and listening every day

[00:11:04] and making this part of your routine really means a lot.

[00:11:07] And I'll see you tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.