Are you feeling lucky today? Are you wearing your favourite suit, shirt, necklace, shoes or socks? Did you go through the rituals that prepare you for a successful presentation or contest? Did you speak to the people that inspire you to play at your best? Are you working with your favourite client or colleague? Did you whisper a silent prayer to the great sales-god in the sky to multiply your mojo? Did you listen to the music that stirs your heart and mind to greatness?
No matter how rational we think we are, there is a part of us that believes in the mysterious, the magical or the supernatural. There is a superstition that runs through all our thinking. How else can we explain all the amazing coincidences that have shaped our lives?
How can we explain the good fortune that we’ve enjoyed when others, just as skilled as us, have fallen short? What are the reasons why we just bumped into opportunity and narrowly avoided disasters? Why has serendipity played such a large role in our success? How did the best and the brightest find their way into our lives?
How did we find ourselves in just the right place at just the right time so often especially if you’re a Canadian or American in these catastrophic moments?
Luck is the name that we give to success when we don’t fully understand it. It’s a composite of many factors. Some of them may be divine gifts that we receive at birth. Some may be results that we’ve worked hard to achieve. Some may be simply because we’ve made more connections and taken more chances than our peers. And some may be karmic payback for good deeds.
Whatever it is, Lucky is an adjective that you want people to apply to you, especially if you become renowned for spreading your luck around.
The Cooler is a 2003 drama-noire about an unlucky individual who in casino parlance is called a “Cooler.” William H. Macy plays a casino employee whose mere presence at a gambling table causes a streak of bad luck by other players. I’m talking about the opposite of a cooler. I’m talking about The Potentiator.
The Potentiator is someone whose presence causes others to succeed. When they are around, others achieve results that they believe they would not have achieved without the assistance of the Potentiator.
Others believe The Potentiator provides them with the skills, the resources, the connections, the courage, the inspiration, the energy or the insights to do things that they otherwise would not have done. They link their good fortune directly to the intervention of the Potentiator.
I call this the Positive Outcome Effect. Instead of simply correlating the outcome with the presence of The Potentiator, people assign the cause of the outcome to the Potentiator.
Sometimes, they can track the outcome to a specific contribution by the Potentiator. Other times, they fabricate the outcome through their imagination. Either way, the Potentiator becomes integral to their well-being. Then it becomes self-fulfilling. Their triumphs become accretive. If the Potentiator is in their corner, they believe they can take on monsters that would otherwise have cowed them into inaction.
Sometimes, Potentiators are too humble for their own success. They are the unsung heroes. They live according to the dictum that actions speak louder than words, so they don’t publicize their contributions. In my book, however, words amplify actions. The more people you can tell, the more people you can benefit, and the more people can become your champions.
So, when people see your number appear on their smartphone screens, do they take your call? Do they associate you with opportunity? Do they look forward to talking with you? Are you a guaranteed highlight of their day? Or do they just let it go to voicemail and call you back only if they must? People vote with their time – either for you or against you.
Make Your Breakthrough: Become The Potentiator
Choose 5 people whom you want to perceive as you as a cause of good luck. Apply the “Positive Outcome Effect” by celebrating the impact of your mutual success with them. Continually reach out to them to reaffirm your role in their success. Remind them subtly that your partnership is multiplying your mutual success. Make this an ongoing ritual. Expand the number of people with whom you play this role.
And if you like what you’ve seen, read or listen to The Potentiator – available on Amazon, Kindle or Audible.com. Cheers and Good Luck!
Well said. My smart, competitive, game-playing father believed in luck. I just read his father’s book about surviving the Russian revolution and the Nazi occupation of Norway and lots more. He could have died probably 10 times before the age of 25. Also had many reverses in life. Inspirational guy!