Today’s gem is a snippet from James Clear’s newsletter on lucky opportunities:
I have a saying that’s relevant to this: in order to be at the right place at the right time, you need to be in a lot of places all the time.
I’ve had many lucky opportunities throughout my career. I couldn’t agree more with James Clear on how they’re stumbled upon.
Here are some of the ways I keep exploring, moving, keeping an active mind and staying engaged:
Be naturally curious
I read a lot. Books, articles, letters, tweet threads, memos, anything that sparks my curiosity. I also read about topics that are both inside and outside of my current industry/area of work. Software, junkyards, newspapers, mining, diamonds, etc. You never know where interesting ideas and opportunities may emerge, so stay curious!
Meet with people
I try to have at least 1 in-person meeting a week with no agenda. Just a casual conversation over coffee, lunch, dinner or, my personal favourite, walks. I try to meet with people that are equally curious and are building cool things. Exchange notes, ideas, problems, solutions, whatever makes for great conversation.
Engage on Twitter
There are so many interesting ideas and opportunities being shared on Twitter. You just have to be following the right people. Always engage – comment, DM, tweet, whatever you can to introduce yourself and your thoughts. I’ve sourced incredible opportunities via Twitter and cannot recommend it enough.
Build an audience
This is the ultimate hack for “stumbling upon” opportunities. When you have an audience, opportunities flow inbound to you. I have the luxury of interesting opportunities falling on my lap as a result of the audience I’ve built over the past couple of years.
A recent example of an opportunity that fell in my lap because of my audience is being invited to speak at the Enduring Ventures Summit in Miami. The event had ~50 super impressive entrepreneurs and investors, and I may end up working/collaborating with some of them (not to mention meeting EV founders Sieva and Xavier as well!). In fact, I’ve already had an interesting deal come my way from someone I met at this event, so there you go!
P.s. if you need help building your own audience, send Matt a DM. He’s been a huge unlock for scaling my content and audience.
