Hey there,

Let me tell you about a moment that looked like pure luck.

It was 2021. Middle of lockdown. Travel was heavily restricted, speaking events were chaos, and I was frustrated.

I desperately wanted to do a conference. I desperately wanted to return to Martinique (where I'm from). Both seemed impossible given the restrictions.

Then, out of nowhere, I got a call.

"Would you give a conference in Martinique? We'll provide all the travel documentation you need. The topic is remotivating tourism businesses during the crisis."

Perfect timing. Perfect opportunity. Pure luck, right?

Wrong.

When I asked how they found me, they said: "We researched speakers on crisis management and productivity. Your content was everywhere—YouTube, articles, social media. You were the obvious choice."

That "lucky break" happened because I'd been creating content consistently for over a year about exactly those topics.

I hadn't planned for that specific opportunity. But I'd created the conditions for it to find me.

This is what I call expanding your luck surface area—and it's the reason some people seem impossibly lucky while others wait for opportunities that never come.

Today, I'm breaking down exactly how this works and how you can engineer your own "luck" in 2026.

Let's go.

Here's something that will blow your mind:

Dr. Richard Wiseman spent a decade studying luck. His finding? People who believe they're lucky actually experience more opportunities.

But not because of magic or karma.

Because they:

In one experiment, he gave lucky and unlucky people the same newspaper and asked them to count photographs.

Unlucky people focused only on counting. Lucky people noticed the giant message on page two: "Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper."

The difference wasn't actual luck. It was attention and action.

Think of luck like sunlight.

Small window = catches a little light. Multiple windows = catches way more light. Standing outside = catches the most light.

Luck surface area is the total area of possibility you create for opportunities to find you.

The formula:

Luck Surface Area = (Actions You Take) × (Visibility You Create) × (Value You Provide)

Let me break this down:

Actions: Every conversation, every piece of content, every connection, every event. Each is a potential point of contact for opportunity.

Visibility: How many people know you exist, what you do, and what value you offer.

Value: The quality of what you share. High value attracts high-quality opportunities.

When you maximize all three, opportunities don't feel lucky—they feel inevitable.

After analyzing dozens of "lucky breaks" in my life, I've identified two core strategies:

This is the most powerful way to increase luck surface area in the modern world.

Every piece of content you create:

I regularly get opportunities from content I created 5-7 years ago. Someone discovers an old video or article and reaches out.

This compounds. One article reaches 100 people. Ten articles reach 1,000. One hundred articles reach 100,000—and create opportunities you couldn't have imagined.

You're not creating for views. You're creating to expand the area where luck can find you.

I know there's a trend saying "networking is dead" or "meeting people is unnecessary."

This is terrible advice.

My biggest opportunities have come from networking. Here's why it works:

Compounding connections: Meet one person = connect with their entire network. One conversation → five introductions → twenty opportunities.

Trust and memory: In-person meetings make you real, memorable, three-dimensional.

Serendipity: You can't predict who will be at an event or what opportunities they know about. Showing up creates space for the unexpected.

But I'm not talking about transactional networking. I mean genuinely connecting with people who share your values.

Maybe 80% won't lead anywhere. That's fine. But 20% will create collaborations, introductions, or opportunities you never could have planned.

Every genuine connection expands your luck surface area.

I need to address something: Modern manifestation advice is incomplete.

I believe in manifestation. But most people are doing it wrong.

You can't just sit at home, visualize what you want, and expect the universe to deliver it.

Manifestation without action is just daydreaming.

Real story: I once met a woman who'd been struggling to get clients for six months. When I asked what she'd done, she said: "I visualize every day. I'm manifesting clients coming to me."

When I suggested practical marketing strategies, she got defensive: "No, I was told to visualize and the clients will come."

This entitled mindset—"I deserve it, so things should come to me"—doesn't work.

Manifestation is the compass. Action is the engine. Both are necessary.

Serendipity = fortunate things happening without specific planning.

Perfect timing. Unexpected connections. Opportunities that fall in your lap.

It feels magical. But it's actually predictable when you understand how it works.

Serendipity happens at the intersection of preparation and exposure.

When you:

...you create conditions for serendipity to occur frequently.

You're not controlling exactly what will happen. But you're maximizing the probability that something interesting will.

Ready to implement this? Here's your framework:

What opportunities would feel lucky?

Get specific. "More opportunities" is too vague.

Where can opportunities come from?

Content creation:

Networking:

Visibility:

Choose 2-3 channels to focus on consistently.

Small, consistent actions that compound:

These feel small now. Over a year? Exponentially larger luck surface area.

When opportunities arise, can people find you?

Make sure you have:

If an opportunity came looking tomorrow, could they find you and immediately know you're the right person?

The life-changing opportunities often don't look like what you expected.

Don't be so fixated on one outcome that you miss unexpected opportunities.

Time: 1-2 hours

Time: 3-5 hours

Time: 2-3 hours

Time: 2-4 hours

Choose 1-2:

Time: 15-30 min/day

Here's what happens when you consistently expand your luck surface area:

Month 1-3: Planting seeds. Not much visible "luck" yet.

Month 4-6: First "lucky" opportunities appear. Someone finds your content. A connection leads to an introduction.

Month 7-9: Serendipity increases noticeably. Multiple unexpected opportunities arise.

Month 10-12: You regularly experience "right place, right time" moments. Luck surface area is now large enough that opportunities are constant.

Year 2+: Life feels magical. Regular unexpected opportunities, perfect-timing connections, impossibly fortunate outcomes.

This isn't luck anymore. This is compound effect of strategic visibility and consistent action.

Beyond tactics, there's a mindset shift:

Stop thinking of yourself as someone waiting for opportunities.

Start thinking of yourself as someone creating conditions for opportunities.

You're not at mercy of chance. You're actively creating your fortune.

Every piece of content = seed Every connection = seed
Every value you provide = seed

You don't know which will sprout. But if you plant enough, something extraordinary WILL grow.

This shift—from passive hope to active creation—separates people who consistently get "lucky" from those who don't.

As you head into 2026, ask yourself:

What am I going to concretely do TODAY to increase my luck surface area?

Not tomorrow. Not when ready. Today.

Publish that imperfect content. Reach out to that person. Share that idea you've been keeping to yourself. Attend that event outside your comfort zone.

Each small action expands the area where luck can find you.

Over time—as actions compound—you'll stop attributing good things to "luck."

You'll recognize them as natural results of conditions you've been creating.

People will call you lucky. But you'll know: You engineered this.

Here's to making 2026 your most fortunate year yet—not through chance, but through strategic expansion of your luck surface area.

Hit reply and tell me: What's one seed you're planting this week to increase your luck surface area?

I read every response, and I'm genuinely curious about what you're creating.

Talk soon,

Jo

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