In the third year of being an entrepreneur, I realized how much success requires luck.
There’s no such thing as making our own luck because luck by definition is random. That said, I’m very grateful for all the incredible luck CuriosityBased has had to survive three years in business. I don’t take it for granted.
I have been thinking about the American myth of meritocracy that tells us life works like this: talent + effort = outcome. This means for those with average talent, the more effort you put in, the more likely you'll have success. If you don’t have success and you try very hard, it must mean you’re not talented. And if you had impressive outcomes made with little effort, you must be very talented.
In reality, talent and effort alone are not enough to determine success. There are many things at CuriosityBased we put a lot of effort into that had poor results, and other things we just tried on a whim that had impressive outcomes. I know many highly talented, hardworking people who don’t get the rewards or recognition they deserve. That’s because of a wildcard variable in this equation: luck.
luck = success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions.
In 2023, I stopped believing in the promises of internet entrepreneurs who share stories of amazing financial success. If I didn’t succeed as their case studies did, after following all their instructions, does that mean there’s something wrong with me?
No. Those “success stories” don’t include all the variables. The equation looks more like this: talent + effort + conditions + network + luck = outcome.
Aside from luck, here are the other variables outside our control:
talent = refers to our natural gifts, including physical, emotional, intellectual abilities. This is a fixed variable, though its impact can be amplified with effort.
conditions = this refers to external conditions, like socio-economic climate, existing government regulations, organizational leadership. This variable can continue to change.
Then there are two variables that are (mostly) within our control:
effort = how much work and time we put into something, and our willingness to keep trying. We control this entirely.
network = the people who support us. This is largely, though not wholly, within our control. Some of us have connections inherited from our family or from the schools we attended or companies that we worked for. We can still control how we cultivate these relationships. I’m particularly proud of the value of my network. I put in a lot of time and energy to maintain good relationships with friends from different parts and stages of my life. They have provided CuriosityBased tremendous support in many different ways.
In this equation, luck is the biggest, out-of-our-control variable and it can have a dramatic, outsized impact on the outcome. Another way to define luck is:
outcome - (effort, conditions, talent, network) = luck
Luck explains what otherwise can’t logically be explained.
This equation helps explain why sometimes our best efforts yield underwhelming or disappointing results. It’s not about “trying harder.” I know for many of us, we have been trying our hardest.
When we don’t recognize the role of luck and we overemphasize the role of effort and talent, we can blame ourselves for when things don’t turn out as desired. It’s really demoralizing to make your team feel responsible for success without acknowledging all the things that are outside their control. That’s why I put a strong emphasis at CuriosityBased on considering what we might learn, not just what we want to achieve, whenever we experiment. Having self-compassion isn’t always easy though. I sometimes am critical of myself in private when we don’t meet our goals.
Reminding myself that success also depends on luck has freed me to focus less on achieving outcomes I ultimately can’t control, so that I can focus more on what I can control: my effort, nurturing my network, my attitude, and my willingness to learn and adapt.
Good relationships with our clients and business partners have helped CuriosityBased thrive since we first started in 2021. Here is a group shot at our first appreciation picnic in August 2023.
A great read Julie! I think we tend to underestimate and downplay the role that luck has in our lives . . . and you've captured this so eloquently here. Cheers to move luck in 2024, and I'm lucky to have you in my universe!