• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Getting Results

Better Productivity, Better Results

  • About
  • Articles
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Topics
    • Agile Results
    • Focus
    • Goals
    • Motivation
    • Time Management
    • All Topics
  • Resources
    • How Tos
    • Success Stories
    • Templates
    • Visuals
    • All Resources
  • Contact

Engineer Your Own Luck

by JD

Engineer Your Own Luck

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur

Are you feeling lucky?

If you’re an engineer or a developer, you’ll appreciate the idea that you can design for luck or stack the deck in your favor.

How do you do this?

As Harry Golden said, “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.”

While I believe in hard work, I also believe in working smarter.

Luck is the same game.

It’s a game of skill.

And, success is a numbers game.

You have to stay in long enough to get “lucky” over time.   That means finding a sustainable approach and using a sustainable system.

It means avoiding going all in without testing your assumptions and reducing the risk out of it.

It means taking emotion out of the equation, taking calculated risks, minimizing your exposure, and focusing on skills.

That’s why Agile methods and Lean approaches can help you outpace your failures.

Because they are test-driven and focus on continuous learning.

And because they focus on capacity and capability versus burnout or blowup.

So if you aren’t feeling the type of luck you’d like to see more of in your life, go back to the basics, and design for it.

They funny thing about luck is that the less you depend on it, the more of it you get.

BTW – Agile Results and Getting Results the Agile Way continue to help people “get lucky.”  Recently, I heard a story where a social worker shared Getting Results the Agile Way with two girls living off the streets.

They are off drugs now, have jobs, and are buying homes.

I’m not doing the story justice, but it’s great to hear about people turning their lives around and these kinds of life changing things that a simple system for meaningful results can help achieve.

It’s not luck.

It’s desire, determination, and effective strategies applied in a sustainable way.

The Agile way.

You Might Also Like

Focus on the Wildly Important
How To Achieve Any Goal
How To Design a Strong Week
How To Teach Students Better Productivity with Agile Results
The Power of Dreaming Big
Why I Teach Agile Results
Why We Need Big Audacious Goals

Category: Action

About JD

Previous Post:What is ProductivityWhat is Productivity? A Comprehensive Guide for Boosting Yours
Next Post:Time Management is Not About Managing Time, But Managing YourselfTime Management

Sidebar

About the Author

JD I am J.D. Meier, the creator of Agile Results. My approach has been forged in the fire of the fast-moving software business. Learn more ...

What is Agile Results?

Agile Results is a simple productivity system for work and life. It helps you spend more time in your strengths, less time in your weaknesses, and do the things that matter most, with focus, clarity, and better energy. Learn more...

The Book that Changes Lives

Check out the book... Getting Results Book

Agile Productivity for Work and Life

Agile Results is a simple system for meaningful results. Use stories, scenario-driven results, and timeboxing, to improve your results, master your time management, improve your motivation, and finally achieve work-life balance. Get a fresh start each day, each week, each month, each year.

Key Resources

  • Agile Results Manifesto
  • How Tos
  • Success Stories
  • Templates
  • Testimonials

Copyright © 2023 · Getting Results · All Rights Reserved