--- title: 5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck description: While we can’t control luck, we can improve it canonical: https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-29T11:00:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:20:00.882Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck og:description: While we can’t control luck, we can improve it og:url: https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa7e30e7c9d0d9ca/698786fb35ba6ff6e7c07eaa/474329219-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=364&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 364 og:image:height: 205 og:image:alt: four-leaf-clover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck twitter:description: While we can’t control luck, we can improve it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa7e30e7c9d0d9ca/698786fb35ba6ff6e7c07eaa/474329219-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=364&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 29, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Hand holding a four leaf clover Hand holding a four leaf clover Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 29, 2015 11:00 AM UTC It isn’t enough to be good. You need luck. We tend to think that smart people make good decisions and stupid people make bad decisions and that luck plays very little role. That is until we’re one of those smart people who has a bad outcome because of luck. You can’t ignore luck and you really can’t plan for it. Yet much of life is the combination, to varying degrees, of skill and luck. This continuum is also what makes watching sports fun. The most talented team doesn’t always win, luck plays a role. However elusive, luck is something that we can cultivate. While we can’t control it, we can improve it. In [How to Get Lucky: 13 techniques for discovering and taking advantage of life’s good breaks](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20), Max Gunther shows us how. --- > “” --- **Technique 1: Acknowledge The Role of Luck** When losers lose, they blame luck. When winners win, it’s because they were smart. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- When you see that luck plays a role, you’re more likely to be aware that the situation can change. You don’t expect things to continue, no that’s for the people who don’t acknowledge the role of luck because they mix up planning and luck. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- **Technique 2: Find the Fast Flow** The idea here is to be where things are happening and surround yourself with a lot of people and interactions. The theory being that if you’re a hermit, nothing will ever happen. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- When you meet these people, use these tips to [quickly build rapport](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/07/ten-techniques-for-building-quick-rapport-with-anyone/). You never want to become isolated. Make contact with people and get involved. Never sit on the sidelines. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- People make things happen. Not necessarily friends, just contacts. But for this to happen people need to know what you’re trying to do – or where you want to go. Few things make us happier than helping others with lucky breaks. In the words of Eric Wachtel, the consultant recruiter mentioned above: “It really is very pleasant to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, Charlie, there’s a job opening that sounds as if it might be your kind of thing.’” Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- **Technique 3: Risk Spooning** You have to invite things to happen. This means you have to stick your neck out. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- Here is what generally happens in life. Some person sticks their neck out and the speculation pays off. They become rich and famous. Newspapers interview the person, asking them “how can we do the same thing you did?” And the newfound sage replies not that he got lucky, no, but rather that he was smart and hard working and those sorts of things. And we eat this stuff up. In part this is because culturally we hate the gambler. Largely because we don’t like that we can’t take risks ourselves. The gambler represents what we are not. It’s this motivated reasoning that makes it easy to find ways to dislike him. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- Risk — smart risk — is a key element to getting lucky. Going to the track and betting on the 99-1 payoff is just stupid. **Technique 4: Run Cutting** “Don’t push your luck.” My parents used to repeat that ancient maxim after I scored a 30-minute curfew extension and rather than be happy with that, I tried to push it longer. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- The key here is to always assume that you’re in the average case. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- One of the problems is that long runs of luck are [available](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2011/08/mental-model-availability-bias/). Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- Casinos publicize big wins that are usually the result of long runs of luck. They do this for two reasons. First, it’s a good story and we think that we can win more than we actually can. Second, it encourages people who are winning, to keep those bets riding so they can be one of the big winners. Of course, the odds are with the casino so the longer you play the more likely luck goes to odds. And the odds favor the house. We never know how long luck will last but we do know that short runs of luck are much more common than long runs of luck. **Technique 5: Luck Selection** At what point should you “cut your losses?” Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- The inability to cut losses is one of the traits of the born loser according to psychiatrists Stanley Block and Samuel Correnti in their book [Psyche, Sex, and Stocks](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000KZ17UC/farnamstreet-20). Sunk costs are hard to overcome, in part because it often involves confessing that you were wrong. Via [How to Get Lucky](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20): --- > “” --- [How to Get Lucky: 13 techniques for discovering and taking advantage of life’s good breaks](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1906659982/farnamstreet-20) goes on to explore 7 other techniques to cultivate your luck. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/"},"headline":"5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck","datePublished":"2015-04-29T11:00:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:20:00.882Z","description":"While we can’t control luck, we can improve it","url":"https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/","keywords":["Psychology","Success topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa7e30e7c9d0d9ca/698786fb35ba6ff6e7c07eaa/474329219-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa7e30e7c9d0d9ca/698786fb35ba6ff6e7c07eaa/474329219-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"four-leaf-clover","caption":"four-leaf-clover","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3773824/5-techniques-improve-luck/","name":"5 Techniques to Improve Your Luck"}}]}] ```