Increase Your Luck Surface Area 🤞

February 4, 2025

This week I've been thinking about luck. And how one can get luckier.

The idea that luck is purely random has always felt incomplete to me. Sure, there's an element of chance to everything, but why do some people seem to be 'luckier' than others? Why do some always stumble upon the right opportunities, meet the right people, or have serendipitous moments that push them forward?

Enter the concept of Luck Surface Area. It suggests that luck isn't just about randomness — it's about increasing your exposure to opportunities. The more you do, the more you share, the more you put yourself out there, the larger your 'surface area' for luck becomes. 📈

Imagine two people: Person A keeps to themselves, works diligently but quietly, rarely shares thoughts or projects, and has a small circle. Person B consistently shares their work, engages with new people, writes, builds, explores. Who's more likely to get that unexpected job offer, meet a potential co-founder, or hear about an opportunity before others? In my experience at least, it tends to be Person B — not because they're inherently luckier, but because they're giving luck more surface to land on.

So, how do we increase our Luck Surface Area?

1. Create and Share More — Whether it's writing, coding, designing, or building, the more you put your work out into the world, the more chances you give for someone to stumble upon it and say 'Hey, I need this!' or 'I know someone who could help with this.' 📸
2. Meet More People — Serendipity thrives in conversations. Each new person you meet expands your network, making it more likely for unexpected opportunities to arise. Go to meetups, talk to strangers, join online communities. Your next lucky break might come from someone you haven't met yet. 🫂
3. Be Open About What You're Looking For — People can't help you if they don't know what you need. If you're looking for freelance work, a business partner, or advice on something, say it out loud or state it in a visible place. Tweet about it, tell your friends, bring it up in conversations. You'd be surprised how often someone knows someone who can help. 📬
4. Follow Your Curiosity — Often, the best opportunities come from unexpected places. Chase ideas that intrigue you, even if they don't seem immediately useful. The most successful people I know have a habit of exploring different fields, tinkering, learning, and letting curiosity guide them. Many of their 'lucky' breaks came from these seemingly random explorations. 🔎
5. Be Consistent — The more time you spend in the game, the higher your odds of catching a break. Luck isn't a one-time event — it compounds. If you keep showing up, keep putting yourself in places where opportunities can find you, and keep building things, luck eventually knocks. 🏋️

This isn't about hustling endlessly or pushing yourself to exhaustion. It's about positioning yourself in a way that increases your odds of good things happening. More doors open when more people know who you are and what you're about.

How do you imagine your luck could increase? 🍀

A Front-Loaded Week

• This week turned out to be quite front-loaded for me — right between my last days at my old job and a dentist appointment, I managed to go to a car viewing too. A few days later, I'm happy to say that I've bought my first car (a 2009 Mazda 6, now parked proudly 'round the block, waiting for me to finish up on the paperwork for it). 😆
• It was also the final week of January, and time for some retrospection and a monthly review. It's good to take a look at your quarterly goals and check the progress on each — even if some of it is not what you've expected, that's still a data point.
• Said goodbye to my corporate job, and now I'm diving headfirst into my role at TalentSight, the Bulgarian AI solution for recruitment (not sponsored). 🚀

Movie Highlight: Gladiator II

This week I decided to reward myself with a solo movie night after work one day, and that's how I stumbled into a viewing of Gladiator II.

To preface it, I'm not the biggest fan of action and action-adjacent movies, though I find that it has its place in a good story. However, it certainly can't carry the whole story on its back, and this is why this movie won't be very high in rating on my list.

Gladiator II follows the story of a no-name warrior rising from a slave to a gladiator in the arena — a simple premise, around which the other plotlines about dictatorship, family duty, and revenge are built. It has a fairly predictable plot, with a limited cast of characters, and awesome CGI and action scenes to carry the pivotal battles of the movie. A strong act from Pedro Pascal as General Acacius as well.

For me, it was not the typical movie in my roster, so I enjoyed it for variety, but the plot was lacking when it came to strong motifs and twists. Still, good fun (like I often say about the Rocky/Creed movies, where the hype can arguably be enough to compensate for a plain storyline). 🥊

Worth Watching This Week

it only takes one night... by champ kent — a quiet, atmospheric video on how a single evening can reframe your perspective.

Life is a Video Game: Here's How To Win by Chase Hughes — a fun reframe on goals, compounding progress, and treating your decisions like in-game choices.

Closing Thoughts

Till next week, stay safe, stay curious, and keep kicking. ✌️