How to Make Your Own Luck

At age 65, Colonel Sanders was unemployed, broke, and sleeping in his car. But he had two things left:

A pressure cooker and 1,010 chances.

It all started when a new interstate was built that bypassed the restaurant The Colonel owned in Corbin, Kentucky. Overnight, his business died.

So he closed it down, cashed his $105 Social Security check, and looked around at a life that had come apart.

This wasn’t his first collapse either:

• A bridge killed his ferry business.
• Electricity wiped out his lamp company.
• The Depression shut down his gas station.

But Sanders was a glutton for punishment (and chicken), so instead of calling it quits, he loaded up his 1946 Ford with a pressure cooker, a tin of flour and spice, and a blanket.

Then he drove.

Sanders travelled the country, cooking chicken in diners, trying to convince owners to franchise his recipe.

They said no. 1,009 times, they said no. Sanders slept in his car between pitches, saving every dollar to keep going.

On the 1,010th try, someone finally said yes.

And by age 73, Sanders had 600 franchises.

By his death, there were 6,000 KFCs in 48 countries, and the company was doing $2 billion a year in sales.

People like to believe luck is random. That some people have it and others don’t.
But that’s not how it works.

Luck is a volume game disguised as a mystery. It’s what happens when you create enough surface area for opportunity to stick to.

Sanders didn’t get lucky on attempt 1,010 because the universe finally decided he deserved it. He got lucky because he gave luck 1,010 different doors to walk through.

Luck is a heat-seeking missile that follows rejection and ignores comfort. It finds people who refuse to stop moving. And after he had earned all his scars, luck showed up for Colonel Sanders.

You say you’ve tried everything—

But have you tried 1,010 times while sleeping in a car?

See you Monday,
Mark

P.S. That volume game Colonel Sanders played, creating enough surface area for luck to stick, is real. It’s also just one slice of a bigger picture on luck, and the new episode of my Solved podcast covers the rest. Drew and I get into what Warren Buffett means by the “ovarian lottery,” and why Napoleon picked his generals by asking “Is he lucky?” We also talk to Annie Duke, a World Series of Poker champion, about telling a good decision from a lucky outcome. You can’t pick the hand you’re dealt. You can get better at playing it. Give Luck, Solved a listen here.