Great piece! I want to listen to that Bo Burnham interview now.
The older I get the more I wonder if fame is even a good thing.
I have a friend who moved to LA to become an actor and when that didn’t pan out, he became a professional dog trainer. I gotta say I think his chances for happiness are better as a small business owner than a famous actor.
As a kid I thought being an actress was a dream job. Now I’m grateful that wasn’t my path in life because we’re finding out how traumatized a lot of these child actors are.
I’m the creator of a very small audio drama. The cast and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary. There’s part of me that wants it to gain traction and become the next big thing. But there’s another part of me that knows having a huge audience brings a lot of pressure with it. Maybe the universe is doing me a favor by keeping our audience small and enthusiastic.
Thanks for reading, Pam! I agree with your perspective on fame. I don’t think fame should be the primary objective. Most of my examples were athletes and performers, but I think the same mental model of luck applies to people in more “typical” jobs.
I don't know if luck is the right thing. I call it planned serendipity. Put yourself in a good position, where you can maximize serendipity, and then let it happen. I run a conference and I think conferences are the perfect bit of planned serendipity. IDK what will happen at a conference, but doing to a conference filled with the right people, and then making sure you are prepared to take advantage of what happens there, and good things happen. What does that mean? IDK. I try to go into things like that with an intention, and I end up getting good things out of it.
I wrote about luck and serendipity equivalently, but that’s a fair perspective. I can see the distinction between the two. Personally, I think they’re similar enough that luck is the same as planned serendipity. Phrasing it as something that can be planned is more powerful though. It’s something you can have influence over.
Fantastic read. I hadn't thought much about the people for whom luck never strikes, toiling away for an ever-more-distant seeming dream. It must require an incredible amount of tenacity and faith to not give up.
Something else I've been wondering since reading this is the role of luck in living a personally satisfying life. I'd like to believe that luck isn't a factor there - that there's always something to be grateful for, and it's an art of aligning your expectations with what's possible. However, in many ways I've lived quite a privileged life and I'm still not always satisfied with where I am, so I don't know.
I’ve found serendipity happens more often when you let go of your ‘need’ for the outcome. Just enjoying what you love to do and being chill about what happens next. Sometimes ‘working hard’ can create a grinding, needy, or even envious state that luck won’t land on. Because luck comes often in the form of other people saying ‘I like that person’ and we pick up on needy, envious energy. It’s why breaks often happen when you let go. When you have, inside yourself, given up, like the guy who has made the decision to leave NY. He stayed on to please his mum, but had given up and wasn’t in that place of desperation anymore. Luck needs a *chill* place to land.
A very thought provoking piece. It’s such a hard thing to try leverage this luck thing to our advantage. But I guess at least being aware of the element of luck helps in some way.
Totally agree with you here. Just work hard at things, put your stuff out there, and then luck either happens or it doesn't. But you have to put it out there. Even if you're a plumber.
I get so sick of these entrepreneurial types writing books on how to be "successful in business." They don't know. I mean, unless they started with a giant trust fund. Then I really don't want their advice. Other than that, they probably worked hard building some internet thing and knew PR. And that's that. They put it out there and lucked out.
I loved this. I think meritocracy is like free will--it almost certainly doesn't exist but our society is determined to uphold the collective delusion that it does because otherwise we'd be left with some really awkward and uncomfortable truths about our hierarchy and how we view ourselves and others.
It's really hard to love yourself without condition, so it's often easier for us to tell ourselves that luck didn't factor at all into our achievements--only some concrete thing we did. Trying to explain to others that, "I got really, really lucky on several different fronts and I've decided to accept that without rendering favorable or unfavorable judgement on you or myself" is way harder than often untrue statements like, "if I can do it, so can you" and "I suffered/worked really hard and that's the only reason I made it to where I am today."
Great piece! I want to listen to that Bo Burnham interview now.
The older I get the more I wonder if fame is even a good thing.
I have a friend who moved to LA to become an actor and when that didn’t pan out, he became a professional dog trainer. I gotta say I think his chances for happiness are better as a small business owner than a famous actor.
As a kid I thought being an actress was a dream job. Now I’m grateful that wasn’t my path in life because we’re finding out how traumatized a lot of these child actors are.
I’m the creator of a very small audio drama. The cast and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary. There’s part of me that wants it to gain traction and become the next big thing. But there’s another part of me that knows having a huge audience brings a lot of pressure with it. Maybe the universe is doing me a favor by keeping our audience small and enthusiastic.
Thanks for reading, Pam! I agree with your perspective on fame. I don’t think fame should be the primary objective. Most of my examples were athletes and performers, but I think the same mental model of luck applies to people in more “typical” jobs.
I don't know if luck is the right thing. I call it planned serendipity. Put yourself in a good position, where you can maximize serendipity, and then let it happen. I run a conference and I think conferences are the perfect bit of planned serendipity. IDK what will happen at a conference, but doing to a conference filled with the right people, and then making sure you are prepared to take advantage of what happens there, and good things happen. What does that mean? IDK. I try to go into things like that with an intention, and I end up getting good things out of it.
Good point, Russell.
I wrote about luck and serendipity equivalently, but that’s a fair perspective. I can see the distinction between the two. Personally, I think they’re similar enough that luck is the same as planned serendipity. Phrasing it as something that can be planned is more powerful though. It’s something you can have influence over.
Fantastic read. I hadn't thought much about the people for whom luck never strikes, toiling away for an ever-more-distant seeming dream. It must require an incredible amount of tenacity and faith to not give up.
Something else I've been wondering since reading this is the role of luck in living a personally satisfying life. I'd like to believe that luck isn't a factor there - that there's always something to be grateful for, and it's an art of aligning your expectations with what's possible. However, in many ways I've lived quite a privileged life and I'm still not always satisfied with where I am, so I don't know.
Thanks Jordan! It’s an interesting question. I’m toying with some ideas about gratefulness. That might be the topic of my next article. We’ll see
I’ve found serendipity happens more often when you let go of your ‘need’ for the outcome. Just enjoying what you love to do and being chill about what happens next. Sometimes ‘working hard’ can create a grinding, needy, or even envious state that luck won’t land on. Because luck comes often in the form of other people saying ‘I like that person’ and we pick up on needy, envious energy. It’s why breaks often happen when you let go. When you have, inside yourself, given up, like the guy who has made the decision to leave NY. He stayed on to please his mum, but had given up and wasn’t in that place of desperation anymore. Luck needs a *chill* place to land.
Thanks, Ros! I hadn’t thought about it like that but I like this way of thinking 🙂
A very thought provoking piece. It’s such a hard thing to try leverage this luck thing to our advantage. But I guess at least being aware of the element of luck helps in some way.
Either way, great piece.
Thanks Michael!
Totally agree with you here. Just work hard at things, put your stuff out there, and then luck either happens or it doesn't. But you have to put it out there. Even if you're a plumber.
I get so sick of these entrepreneurial types writing books on how to be "successful in business." They don't know. I mean, unless they started with a giant trust fund. Then I really don't want their advice. Other than that, they probably worked hard building some internet thing and knew PR. And that's that. They put it out there and lucked out.
And timing. Always timing.
I love this topic.
Thanks Adam! Appreciate it :)
In the words of the philosopher Lucky Twice:
There's nothing you can do to keep it out
There's nothing you can do, just scream and shout, say
I'm so lucky, lucky, I'm so lucky, lucky
I'm so lovely, lovely, I'm so lovely, lovely
You can fool yourself, I promise it will help
Really enjoyable, thought-provoking read.
Thanks, Addie!
Great piece full of great reminders. I really enjoyed the section on casting a wide net and meeting in person also a great way to change things up.
Thanks Ian! Yeah, Cate’s article is a great read!
I loved this. I think meritocracy is like free will--it almost certainly doesn't exist but our society is determined to uphold the collective delusion that it does because otherwise we'd be left with some really awkward and uncomfortable truths about our hierarchy and how we view ourselves and others.
It's really hard to love yourself without condition, so it's often easier for us to tell ourselves that luck didn't factor at all into our achievements--only some concrete thing we did. Trying to explain to others that, "I got really, really lucky on several different fronts and I've decided to accept that without rendering favorable or unfavorable judgement on you or myself" is way harder than often untrue statements like, "if I can do it, so can you" and "I suffered/worked really hard and that's the only reason I made it to where I am today."
Thanks, Theodora! I couldn’t have said it better myself
And some call it blessings...
Very true
Nice image too 🌈
Just trying to be serene lol
Good shit, FZ. Burnham's comedy is turd. For those with no luck, there's the option of having influential relatives in high places 🍀
Thanks, Frank! Appreciate it. You have to give Bo another shot. Some of his stuff is great
What an insightful piece !
Thank you!
I often wonder what my life would have been like if I would have been born in some hell- hole like Afrika, Pakistan or Afghanistan ...
Scary.
I have lived much of my life in some of the places you listed and usually loved living in those places. Maybe my expectations are low.
“The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” – John Milton.
Were you born there? Exposed to the local traditions and horrors?