Return ON Luck: Making Good Choices Despite Your Circumstances

In Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen's book Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck- Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (2011), they described quantifying luck and determined if luck had any impact on a 10X's companies success versus a comparison company.  10X companies were identified as thriving companies that financially beat their industry index at least 10 times in contrast to comparison companies who were in similar industries and faced similar challenges as the 10X companies.  What the authors discovered in their research was that 10X companies were not generally luckier than the comparison companies and that some of the comparison companies actually had better luck than the 10X companies.  What was important is a concept that the authors described as Return on Luck.  Return on Luck is described as how a company prepares for and responds effectively to situations in order to minimize bad luck or maximize good luck.  The key concept is that 10X companies understand that luck is something that they don't have control over, but that they do have control over how they prepare for and how they respond to their unforeseen negative or positive circumstances.

We can take this business idea of Return on Luck to reflect on how this applies to your personal life.  For example, you may not have control over certain circumstances in your life whether they are good or bad, but you can choose to respond in effective ways that will minimize the possible bad outcomes or maximize the good outcomes.  For example, you may have been raised in an abusive home environment and those past things impact your present ability to have healthy relationships with others.  Unfortunately, you cannot change your circumstances, but you can choose to identify hurts and deficits in your life and work to improve these areas.  In contrast, you may have experienced a loving home environment and were given a lot of great privileges.  You can choose to steward your abilities and the advantages of your experiences to live out your life to be the best person God created you to be.  As a counselor, I have listened to many stories of people struggling with the consequences of extraordinarily painful past situations.  As a counselor, I have also heard the stories of how these same people also chose to effectively minimize the effects of bad circumstances and create choices to maximize a life of greater freedom and meaning.  Whatever past, current, or future situations you might face, take courage and choose to respond in positive and effective ways because the business of you is worth it.

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