Life deals you cards.

The family you are born into. The neighbourhood you are raised in. Even the era you are raised in.

Being born in the 21st century is good luck. Being born into a loving family is good luck.

But life deals you different types of cards.

Being hypoglycaemic is bad luck. Being ruled out with a knee injury for 6 months is bad luck.

Some things you just can’t control. No point in getting frustrated about the things you have no influence over. About the things you can’t change.

Be frustrated about the things that are in your control. About the things you can change.

Mike Cernovich says that we have a vast amount of control over our lives and that we can improve our luck by making better choices.

So what can you do to improve your luck at life?

How do you design your lifestyle in a way that can maximise your chances of success?

Here’s Mike:

“If you woke up every morning with 30 minutes to spare rather than hit the snooze button, warmed up your brain, did some cardio, reflected on your day at work, remained mindful at work, avoided negative people, refused to gossip, ate nutritious foods, lifted weights, watched zero television, and set your cell phone down at night to either spend time with your children or focus on your life vision….Might you get lucky?

In a recent blogpost of his, Cernovich listed a few things that we can choose to do so that we can improve our luck in life:

Gaining self-knowledge is not luck.

Leveraging your gifts is not luck.

Meditating is not luck.

Eliminating negative people is not luck. Refusing to argue is a choice, not luck.

Going to the gym is not luck.

How you choose to view your position in life is not luck.

In this article, you will learn the importance of these choices and why making them will ultimately improve your luck.

Gaining self-knowledge is not luck

Know Thyself

In order to know yourself, you have to put yourself in various situations. Situations you might not necessarily feel comfortable in. Like sky diving.

You will learn more about yourself when you’re diving however-many-thousand feet through the air than you would by chilling in your comfort zone.

Life naturally puts you in new, challenging situations. Through trial and error, through empirical experimentation – you gain self-knowledge.

Along the road to self-discovery, there will be many dead-ends and back alleys you’ll regret you’ve gone down.

But there is always some benefit from ending up in a grotty little backend sh*thole – or at least that is how you should interpret it. Frame it in a way that benefits you most without being delusional about it.

After all – what if it was a gift?

On some level, you most likely have a fair degree of self-knowledge. You might know which foods don’t work in your favour and which optimise your day-to-day.

You might know when you’re in the red zone after a long day’s or week’s work and when to decide to just relax at home and restore.

To gain self-knowledge on a deeper level, you have to reflect upon your life. What you have done so far and what you want to do going forward.

You have to go through some introspection to connect the dots about your life and yourself.

To tune into your inner voice, to notice the commonalities and recurring themes in your life that are begging for more of your attention. How do you do this? Check this out.

Through self-reflection and introspection, you are making a constructive attempt to understand your life and yourself.

You will find out and learn about your strengths and weaknesses, learn what is comfortable for you and what isn’t (yet), and so on.

Know thyself.

Leveraging your gifts is not luck

Through gaining self-knowledge, you realize more about your gifts. What innate talents and traits you have won in the genetic lottery, or as Warren Buffet calls it the ovarian lottery. Paraphrasing Carol Dweck in her bestselling book Mindset:

‘Everybody has their own unique genetic endowment, unique aptitudes and temperaments. The hand you are dealt is just the starting point for development. Potential isn’t a fixed quantity; the limit for potential is unknown. Whatever cherished qualities you are born with – they can be developed. With training, passion, and effort – you can maximize your potential.’

Learn about these gifts and use them to your advantage. Invest in yourself and build upon them to create something unique to you.

If you put forth the effort to combine your gifts and believe that something good will come from the fruit of your work, then you are maximising your chances for success.

You are choosing to make the most of the cards life has dealt you.

Meditating is not luck

By controlling your thoughts and emotions, you are training your mind to operate in a way that increases your quality of life and benefits it in immeasurable ways.

You are making a conscious choice to operate on a higher level of consciousness, resisting the urge to operate on a debilitating low frequency by falling into negative, self-defeating thought patterns.

You are choosing to be present in the moment.

Eliminating negative people and refusing to argue is a choice, not luck

How you train your mind to function is vital in itself but who you surround yourself and allow to shape you is important also.

Surround yourself with upbeat and vibrant personalities that you will build a positive ecosystem of emotion together with.

Surround yourself with people that add value to your life and deserve reciprocity with whatever value you can give back.

With people that genuinely have your best interest at heart and want to help you in your unique mission.

Avoid the social vampires that suck the life out of you.

Low consciousness level people that will only instil doubt in you and stand in your way on your path.

Toxic people that preoccupy themselves with petty dramas and high-octane arguments you would be better off without.

You are choosing who you surround yourself with and who you avoid.

Going to the gym is not luck

You only have one body.

By going to the gym, all other areas of life instantly benefit.

Going to the gym enforces structure into your life and motivates you to nourish your body properly. You feel better because you’re living a healthy lifestyle.

Going to the gym energises you and positively impacts your productivity. This newfound energy then trickles into your work and your social relationships.

Exercise changes your biochemistry. It improves your cognitive function and helps your learning.

It helps improve your posture by building muscles that will support a straight, upright stance.

It helps you unwind and enjoy a healthy catharsis.

You look better, you feel better, you become better.

By going to the gym, you are choosing to live a healthy life.

How you choose to view your position in life is not luck

Much of how you view your position in life depends on the mindset you adhere to.

Carol Dweck in her bestselling book Mindset talks about two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A person with a fixed mindset will believe that their abilities are carved in stone and cannot be exceeded.

A person with a growth-mindset, however, will believe that potential is unlimited and you can always get better with each passing day.

“The hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development.” -Carol Dweck, Mindset

Personality grows out of the mindset you adhere to. Choose to develop a beneficial mindset to grow a favourable personality.

Choose to view failures as constructive feedback on your performance in any area of life.

Choose to turn setbacks into future successes. Identify your strengths and weakness: build on and leverage your strengths (gifts) and work on your weaknesses. As Dweck put it:

“Be open to accurate estimations of your abilities so you know what to work on.”

Rid yourself of limiting beliefs like “I can’t do this, I can’t do that”, “I’m not this; I’m not that.”

Catch yourself whenever you do self-deprecating mental gymnastics whereby you feel like giving up, you feel unworthy.

Why?

As Jeff Goins, author of Art of Work, puts it:

“Because you’re capable of more than you realise, and in trying, you learn something new as you push past possibility. As a result, you grow, learning that most skills are not inborn, but learned. Practiced. At least, they can be, if you’re willing to adopt the growth mindset and dedicate yourself to the practice that follows. Even the most gifted people do not have what it takes to succeed without the right attitude and years of practice.”

Life deals you cards. Make the most with the hand you have. Forever expand your comfort zone to become the best version of yourself.

P.S. Thanks for reading. If you liked this, feel free to sign up to my free weekly newsletter for more life-optimising stuff.

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Thank you to Mike Cernovich for inspiring me to write this post. Importantly, thank you for being among the few people who inspired me to start this blog.