If you open up a dictionary and look up the word "luck", you'll see it defined as:

"Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions."

Keyword here being chance, defined as "the occurrence of events in the absence of any obvious intention or cause."

So in essence, something random and out of our control.

And yet, why is it that some people seem to have so much of it, and some don't?

Is it also the product of chance? Or is it something else?

Look no further than some of the "luckiest" people's thoughts on luck, and you'll begin to notice a trend.

"Luck is where opportunity meets preparation." - Seneca

"Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get." - Ray Kroc

"I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it." - Denzel Washington

"Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation, while bad luck is when lack of preparation meets reality" - Eliyahu Goldratt

It's clear that there's more to luck than meets the eye.

For the curious, there's been 4 categories of luck going around for decades. Today I'll propose a 5th type of luck. But first, let's go over the 4 types.

The 4 Types of Luck:

First proposed in 1978 by neurologist Dr. James Austin, in his book titled "Chase, Chance, & Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty.

The four types of luck are:

1. Blind Luck

2. Luck from Motion

3. Luck From Awareness

4. Luck from Uniqueness

Let's define each one.

Type I: Blind Luck

This is what most people think luck is about. Completely accidental, that comes from no effort on your part. It is completely out of your control.

It includes:

• Where you are born

• Who you are born to

• Base circumstances of your life

• Genetic precondition

• "Acts of God"

Examples would include winning the lottery, losing your house to an Earthquake, etc.

Type II: Luck from Motion

"A certain level of action "stirs up the pot" brings in random ideas that will collide and stick together in fresh combinations, lets chance operate."

You create luck of motion by expanding your luck surface area from simple movement and hustle. The increase in collisions opens you up to more lucky events.

Luck from motion means you're moving around and doing things to have more chances for luck to find you. It would be like buying several lottery tickets consistently, to have more and more chances to win the lottery.

Example: You want to be a famous actor. Instead of sitting around all day, waiting for your lucky break, you get to work. You move to Hollywood, the heart of the cinema industry. You hang out where many actors and directors meet. You get to know people in the industry. You attend countless castings. One day you happen to be in the right time and place that gave you the chance to meet the right person that will help you catch your "lucky break".

Type III: Luck from Awareness.

"[Luck] presents only a faint clue, the potential opportunity exists, but it will be overlooked except by that one person uniquely equipped to observe it, visualize it conceptually, and fully grasp its significance."

This type of luck is a result of your awareness and depth of understanding of a specific domain. This knowledge allows you to position yourself for luck to find you. You begin to notice in advance where "the right place and the right time" are going to be. Or, as Naval Ravikant put it, "you become very good at spotting luck."

Take crypto millionaires, for example. If you bought Bitcoin under $5k and saw it rise to over $50k, people might call you lucky. But when Bitcoin was under $100, most had heard of it. The difference? Only those with knowledge of programming, economics, and game theory recognized the opportunity and acted on it. Their understanding let them seize luck at the right time.

Side note: Wouldn't that mean a lot of people might call you lucky if you buy bitcoin at 50k, if it ever gets to 500k in the future?

Type IV: Luck from Uniqueness

"[Type IV Luck] comes to you, unsought, because of who you are and how you behave... [This type] favors those with distinctive, if not eccentric hobbies, personal lifestyles, and motor behaviors."

This type of luck occurs when your unique characteristics attract luck to you. Whether it's your friendly personality, your work ethic, or your eclectic knowledge, some things make you unique. With time, you'll build a brand and your reputation will grow.

You will begin attracting opportunities from further away. Eventually, you might find a career-changing client who might hire you for a job only you can do. There's your luck.

Naval Ravikant describes it best:

“Then the last kind of luck is the weirdest, hardest kind. But that’s what we want to talk about. Which is where you build a unique character, a unique brand, a unique mindset, where then luck finds you.”

Here's an example:

You've been playing around with generative AI since way before everyone knew what it was. Your unique passion and expertise means you often get called on by founders and CEOs building AI companies. You've been able to earn equity in many startups that have returned millions. Your unique hobby attracted luck to you.

The 5th Type of Luck:

People have been talking about these four types of luck for decades. It's a great framework to understand the different types of luck, and how you can get more of each. But the more I look at it, the more I realize something's missing.

There's a certain kind of luck that comes from grit; from having such a clear purpose that everything falls into place.

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." - Paulo Coelho

You may call it "manifestation", or "the secret", or quantum entanglement. No matter the name, it seems people who're clear on their vision have a way of attracting luck serendipitously.

Now, if all this sounds woo-woo, or outlandish to you, there's another explanation to bring it home. It's all about the mindset.

Believing you're luck is all it takes to bring this kind of luck. If you believe you're lucky you'll be more willing to take risks than if you believe things never go your way. Even if you fail often, having more turns at bat means you'll hit it more often, too. More wins will often offset your misses.

This example will bring it all together:

I am amazing at finding the best parking spots. I park close to the entrance so often that it's become a running gag amongst my friends.

Maybe it's because every time I get somewhere, I visualize the best parking spot waiting for me. I've decided finding great parking spaces is part of my identity. Maybe the universe conspires for me to get them. Maybe by visualizing it, all the atoms in the quantum rearrange to make it my reality.

Or maybe not. Maybe it's something different. When I arrive to a full parking spot, I don't begin looking on the 3rd or 4th row down, because I assume the entrance is full. That alone ensures I find them more often than people who don't try.

Or maybe I'm so decided I'll get a great parking spot, I'll unconsciously arrive a little earlier. Maybe I'll pull up as the first batch of 7 PM diners are leaving, right before the 9 PM wave arrives. Maybe I'll find somewhere that's not actually a marked parking spot, so nobody's taken it, but doesn't bother anyone and doesn't get me in trouble. Or perhaps I'll talk dare to ask some guard to let me park in a reserved spot. "It's only 20 minutes."

Whatever the reason, I've managed to grab a seemingly random event, such as parking-spot-availability, and stack all the odds in my favor. I decided I'm lucky at finding great spots, and it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And that's it. The 5th type of luck is a combination of manifestation, and mindset... Mindsetfestation, if you will.

(I'll see myself out)

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Blind luck you have no control over. It dictates the early years of your life, but loses importance as you get older. Don't focus on it so much, and begin working in the other ones.

2. Luck from Motion comes to play as you begin hustling in your 20s. This decade is all about saying yes to opportunities and exposing yourself to the most chances of getting lucky. As a rule of thumb, whenever faced with a choice, focus on the option that is more likely to lead luck into finding you.

3. Luck from Awareness sets in as you develop specific knowledge and experience in your 30s and beyond. Follow curiosity, never spot learning, consume information, and look out for trends you can capitalize.

4. Luck from Uniqueness is unrelated to age. You can work on it whenever, but it grows over time. Having such a reputation as a party animal in my 20s made me the go-to guy whenever people wanted to have a good time. So many people asked me when's the next great party, that whatever party I'd point to would be flooded with a big crowd. So many people would go, that everyone'd inevitably have a good time. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. This gave me access to so many events and situations many people would only dream of. Those days are behind me now, but it goes to show how much your reputation can do for you.

5. You can tap into the 5th type of luck any time. Become so full of conviction about your vision, and what you're going to do about it, that nothing can stand in your way. Whether it's manifestation, mindset, or sheer will, when you set your mind to something, luck will pave the way.