Create Your Own Luck
The Magic of Positive Black Swan Events
“We don’t want to just survive uncertainty, to just about make it. We want to survive uncertainty and, in addition—like a certain class of aggressive Roman Stoics—have the last word. The mission is how to domesticate, even dominate, even conquer, the unseen, the opaque, and the inexplicable.”
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Create positive black swan events. Thrive despite negative ones.
In his 2007 book by the same name, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced the concept of the black swan: an event that is unpredictable, surprising and high impact. Black swan events can be negative or positive.
A related concept of his is antifragility. That idea describes the kind of strength that goes beyond simple resilience and robustness in the face of pressure and volatility. It means actually gaining from stressors. While Taleb described this effect in terms of large, complex interdependencies such as the global financial system, I believe the concept is just as relevant at the individual level. This is what I mean by personal antifragility.
It is important that we pursue practical objectives like being highly productive and effective while maintaining physical and mental health, regardless of external circumstances. But if we want to improve our results and open up life beyond simply “getting by,” I believe personal antifragility is key. We need to continuously work on ourselves. This means growing our IQ, EQ, AQ and RQ in a strategic way that aligns with our values and purpose. It is a lifestyle of creating compounding effects that leads to repeatable success.
Developing personal antifragility allows us to more easily contend with negative black swan events… and on the flip side, we can also create the conditions for positive black swan events to show up. “Creating our own luck” in this way is not only possible, but I believe it can happen more easily than one might think. But it requires we cultivate certain mindsets, abilities and circumstances in our lives.
Poster Art by Gazeb0r
An excellent example of creating a positive black swan event is how musician Rina Sawayama landed the role of Akira in the film John Wick: Chapter 4.
Watch this inspirational one-minute video of Sawayama explaining what happened. She didn’t audition for the role. It just fell on her lap. Some people would watch this video and conclude that she simply got lucky. Others will notice how she created the conditions for this positive black swan event.
What is your takeaway?
What conditions, mindsets, skills and relationships can you create in your life to welcome more of these sorts of ”lucky” occurrences?
Rina Sawayama had never acted in a movie before, and wound up winning an important role in a film that grossed over $440 million worldwide. Not bad for a first-timer. Who knows where this event will lead her.
This is the magic of positive black swan events.