Create Your Own Luck

Writing every week rigs the lottery of life in your favour 🎟️✨

🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life - from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸

Most people wait for luck. Some try to buy it through lottery tickets and jackpot dreams. I’m not immune, I have a recurring payment setup, someone has to win right? *grin*

As I creep closer to 50 I don’t care so much about fitting into the box society created for me, I see through the bullshit and question *everything*.

How can you make your own luck?

A year ago I was in a really bad place and that coincided with a gnawing awareness of the weighty milestone ahead. A sense of time passing too quickly and a need for more control of my own life for my sanity and self worth.

I thought about how to reframe and stop a spiral into midlife crisis, how to make this awful thing the best thing that has happened to me?

I took my pain and my passion, and channelled it as a creative catalyst;

✅ One year to explore purpose through ikigai
✅ One commitment to share my thoughts, unfinished or not
✅ One essay per week shipped regardless

One year later, I’ve seen for myself that consistent writing is an awesome way to clarify your thinking. It’s also a system for manufacturing serendipity.

You are making your own luck factory and even cooler than printing lottery tickets, every post you create can make you smarter, clearer, and more connected in the process!

ChatGPT Plus - cartoon me pulling out lucky number 7 in the lottery draw

The 4 types of luck (and why writing unlocks them all)

Naval Ravikant describes four types of luck. Writing regularly, it turns out, is a powerful way to tap into each of them.

🃏 Blind Luck - Random fortune

Some luck is pure chance. But the more you create, the more opportunities you expose yourself to. Each piece of writing is another entry in the lottery of unexpected opportunities.

More content = more chances for magic

🏃 Hustle Luck - Motion creates opportunity

Luck often favours those in motion. Publishing weekly builds momentum, develops your thinking, and attracts the attention of people who resonate with your ideas and recognise your tenacity and discipline.

Consistent creation = building momentum

🧠 Preparation Luck - Pattern recognition

Consistent writing sharpens perception. The more you reflect, the better you become at spotting emerging patterns, hidden connections, and opportunities that others might miss.

Regular reflection = connecting dots becomes 2nd nature

🛡️ Character Luck - Luck finds the prepared

Lady Luck is drawn to people who show up with authenticity and consistency. Writing in your own voice builds credibility, attracts the right people, and positions you as someone worth collaborating with.

Your unique voice = attracting aligned opportunities

A counterintuitive and compounding path

It’s more than a little paradoxical to be talking about manufacturing luck, as it often works best when you're not trying too hard;

• Sharing vulnerably instead of polishing endlessly

• Thinking out loud rather than waiting for a perfect end state

• Focusing on helping others not chasing status

Psychologist Richard Wiseman's decade-long study of lucky people confirms this. The luckiest people aren't the most skilled or polished, they're the ones who maximise chance opportunities and maintain an optimistic and resilient attitude.

Each time you publish something, you create multiple pathways for serendipity. A passing comment can spark a deeper conversation. A simple idea can connect you with like-minded people. A half-formed thought can lead to a fully realised collaboration. The more you engage, the more doors open and the more your luck multiplies.

This creates a network effect, with each piece increasing your surface area for luck over multiple luck vectors;

• Ideas that resonate unexpectedly

• Connections with like-minded souls

• Opportunities for collaboration

• Seeds for future projects

Like compound interest, these vectors multiply over time. One genuine connection leads to three more. A random insight sparks a collaboration. A simple share creates an unexpected opportunity.

These aren’t always immediately obvious either. At times I’ve worried about how many people are ‘liking’ my posts, only to hear quite often in real life or on other platforms that someone has liked or been inspired by something I wrote ages ago.

created in napkin.ai

Building a luck factory

If luck is a numbers game, then the best way to improve your odds is to increase your exposure to potential opportunities. Want to increase your luck surface area? Start here;

1. Write weekly - don’t wait for perfect, share your thoughts & let your curiosity guide you

2. Build in public - document & share your process, others learn from what you’re learning

3. Create value first - give generously & share insights freely, connect without expectation

4. Be open to magic - notice patterns and follow interesting threads, welcome the unexpected connections, the best opportunities rarely come from where you expect

Unlike most lotteries where the odds are pretty fixed, this one improves the longer you play, your chances of meaningful wins increase with every piece you publish.

Your thinking becomes clearer.
Your network becomes richer.
Your luck multiplies over time.

Even if you don’t hit the jackpot you’ll still gain the invaluable reward of sharper thinking, deeper understanding and meaningful connection.

Every post makes you richer in insight.

What will you write about this week? What doors might that open?

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx

PS - A thought experiment, if you committed to writing one short piece every week for a year, what might change?

What ideas would emerge?
What connections would form?
What doors might open?
How would it feel to have built up such a body of work?

PPS - Here are some lucky ticket journal prompts if you aren’t sure where to begin;

1️⃣ What fascinates you that you worry others might find boring?
2️⃣ What challenges have you overcome that others might be facing?
3️⃣ What patterns do you notice that others might miss?

PPPS – While you think about creating your own luck through consistent practice, have a listen to The Cave by Mumford & Sons. Sometimes you need darkness to appreciate the light that’s coming - “And I need to know how to live my life as it's meant to be”