Luck has played a major role in some of the biggest successes in history

Luck is a key ingredient in success which we’ve already delved into deeply on this blog. There are also some experts such as Professor Richard Wiseman who believe you can even increase your luck in four steps. Regardless, luck is a force that’s behind much of our success.

Here are a few high profile examples of luck to ponder. They’re mostly based on information from three great books about luck: The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman, Success and Luck by Robert H. Frank and The Success Equation by Michael J. Mauboussin.

Bill Gates and Microsoft

Bill Gates’ benefited from a healthy dose of luck in his early years.

First off, he went to a private school which gave students access to computer programming terminals where you could build computer programs and get them running in real time. Others had to go through convoluted processes which added days and weeks to what could take Gates hours to complete. Gates himself estimated that there might have been 50 other students in the world who could have done the same thing at that time.

Next, Gates and his partner Paul Allen were able to acquire the precursor to MS-DOS for $50,000 and then organise a rare and lucky deal to get paid royalties for every IBM computer MS-DOS was installed on.

At the time IBM had a pessimistic forecast for PC sales, which helped Gates seal this lucrative deal. Because Microsoft retained rights to their new operating system, when IBM’s huge success selling their PC caused other companies to start selling PCs, Gates was able to sell even more software.

The Mona Lisa

Another example from Success and Luck is the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This was a relatively obscure and ignored Da Vinci painting until an Italian maintenance worker stole it from the Louvre in 1911 and tried to sell it to an Italian art gallery.

The resulting global news outrage included countless reproductions of the painting, catapulting it to fame.

Al Pacino

One of my favourite examples of the impact of luck is the good fortune Al Pacino had early in his career.

When The Godfather was being made, director Francis Ford Coppola was adamant that the actor who played Michael Corleone should be unknown and look Sicilian. The executives had other plans and wanted to hire someone like Robert Redford. Coppola threatened to leave the project unless the executives followed his request and Al Pacino was cast as Michael.

This was a good turn of events for Pacino, who was a relatively new actor with only two small roles under his belt.

Adding to Pacino’s luck was the fact that Coppola’s adaptation of the Godfather book by Mario Puzo focused on Michael Corleone’s story instead of his brother Sonny Corleone.

The film was a huge success and this pushed the obviously talented Pacino into the spotlight.

Bryan Cranston

I loved Bryan Cranston in Malcolm in the Middle, but it was his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad which catapulted him into the spotlight. Cranston’s story is also told by Frank in Success and Luck, and was the definition of a lucky break.

Cranston was originally suggested to play the part of Walter White by the producer of the show, Vince Gilligan. His idea was rejected by studio executives in favour of John Cusack and Matthew Broderick who in turn both rejected the role. Cranston was subsequently accepted and the rest is history.  

Scott Adams / Dilbert

The success of the hit comic strip Dilbert is a testament to the power of luck. According to its creator Scott Adams, the comic strip was extraordinarily lucky to be picked up and syndicated across the USA and the world. Some examples of luck include:

• Adams’ first comics editor was married to an engineer who was a “real life Dilbert” so she instantly connected with the comic and pushed hard for it within her company against heavy objections from colleagues.
• One day an employee at the Boston Globe went on a road trip holiday with her husband. She was driving and her husband was bored, so he picked Dilbert up from the sales packet she had left in her car. He thought it was funny, and because of her husband’s response the Boston Globe picked it up.
• The Dilbert comic came to prominence during the mid-1990s when news was dominated with stories of corporate downsizing, technology and the dot com bubble. Dilbert happened to be about the same subject matter which resonated with audiences.

This story is from Adam’s excellent book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big which delves into his story, and includes some simple but effective tips for success.

Penicillin

Another great story from The Luck Factor is the origin story behind penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin in the 1920s after coming back from holidays and noticing a petri dish of bacteria he was testing was accidentally left uncovered.

A specific type of mould called Penicillium notatum had fallen into the dish and killed the bacteria, leading to the eventual discovery of the antibiotic which has saved millions of lives.

Warren Buffett

Buffett was famously rejected from Harvard, which led him to consider other education options, one of which was Columbia. At Colombia he was able to study under Benjamin Graham, one of the fathers of value investing and the person who taught Buffett the famous two rules of investing.

Warren Buffett has a great short interview on Forbes alongside Jay-Z about the role luck has played in his life.

Jay-Z

Jay-Z was gifted in music during his formative years, which led to him travelling to London to help his mentor Jaz-O record an album. During the two month trip, Jay-Z’s close friend was caught in a sting operation and jailed for 13 years, and Jay-Z says the only reason he wasn’t with this friend was because he was in London at the time.

Lost

The show Lost was originally pitched as a cross between the reality TV series Survivor and the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks. Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney at the time rated the pitch for Lost at a 2 out of 10 and later called it terrible. But because it was already in production Lost was still released, and was a surprising hit which spanned six series.

Joseph Pulitzer

The famous reporter, newspaper owner, congressman and namesake of the Pulitzer Prize came to the USA from Hungary in 1864 at the age of 17. He had no money, bad eyesight and no job prospects.

To pass the time he played chess at a local library in St Louis, until one day he met the editor of a local German-language newspaper. The editor gave him his first job , and Pulitzer eventually ended up owning part of the newspaper.

Evelyn Marie Williams and Donald Smith

What list about luck would be complete without some incredible lottery stories?

Evelyn Marie Williams won $4 million in 1985 in the New Jersey Lottery, and then four months later won another $1.5 million.

Donald Smith was even luckier and won the Wisconsin State Lottery three times! He won it in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and won a total of $750,000.

Both of these stories are also from Richard Wiseman’s book The Luck Factor.

John Woods

While not a success story, a great story from The Luck Factor is that of John Woods. Woods was a senior partner at the Thacher, Proffitt & Woods legal firm. He survived not one but three potentially deadly occurrences.

He was originally booked on the ill-fated Pan Am flight that was bombed over Lockerbie, but cancelled his ticket shortly before the flight so he could attend a Christmas party.

Next, he was working on the 39th floor in the World Trade Centre in New York during the 1993 bombing and escaped unharmed through the fire escape.

Finally in 2001 he narrowly avoided being in the second World Trade Centre tower during the September 11 attack. He left the tower seconds before it was attacked.

Leicester City winning the 2016 Premier League Championship

In 2016, English Premier League football team Leicester City had 5000-1 odds of winning the championship. The team was underfunded compared to many of the other teams, and the closest it had come to ever winning was coming second in the 1928-29 season. Even with these odds, Leicester City somehow won the championship in what the BBC called “One of the greatest sporting stories of all time”.

As Janice Kaplan and Barnaby Marsh explain in the book How Luck Happens, after the championship many pundits suddenly had various explanations for why the team won. These included coaching and the analytics used to find players, the poor performance of the top four teams and more.

Closing thoughts about good luck in history

Luck is an interesting and important feature in our daily lives. It’s had a measurable impact on some of the biggest success stories in the 100 or so years this article has covered, and undoubtedly much further back. If you’re interested in learning more about how luck actually works read the following two guides we have:

• Success and luck: the role chance plays alongside talent and effort
• How to get good luck according to science

Do you have a good story about how luck has had a big impact on your own life? Share it below!

Luck can be the deciding factor in success, even if it only plays a tiny role

Luck is one of the most important ingredients in success in addition to hard work and talent. It’s had a hand in the meteoric success of Bill Gates, Al Pacino, Warren Buffett, Jay-Z and countless others.

It’s also resulted in life changing discoveries such as penicillin, and has been blamed in the spectacular failures of objectively good products like the Sony MiniDisc.

We have a complex relationship with this mysterious force that often creeps into superstition. Many of us will question other beliefs we take for granted such as religion, but research shows 70% of people crossing a street would still rather walk around a ladder rather than under it.

The main ideas in this article

• How luck works alongside talent and effort
• Examples of the role luck plays in success
• Luck is more important in some activities than others
• How to improve in luck-based activities vs skill-based activities
• The larger a “competition” is, the more of a role luck plays
• Luck’s role is getting bigger with time in some activities
• Why we minimise the role of luck in success
• Why you should care about luck’s role in success

Luck is important for success when combined with ability and effort

Experts have varying opinions about just how important luck is for success. The consensus is that luck plays an important role in success when combined with hard work and talent. You need all three components.

As we’ll discuss below, luck isn’t equally as important for success in every activity. It’s also not static. In some activities, luck’s role in success is actually getting bigger with time.

At the base level, luck dictates what country you’re born in, the environment you grow up in, who your parents are and what their incomes are. According to various studies, these factors have significant bearings on the opportunities you’ll receive when growing up and as an adult. Research has even shown that the strength of the economy when you graduate can have an impact on your income up to 15 years in the future!

In the book The Luck Factor, author Richard Wiseman suggests a startling 95% of success is the result of luck and 5% is the result of ability.

This may sound staggeringly high, but a recent 2018 simulation backed this idea up when it suggested that a large ingredient to success was randomness. The study went on to say that according to their simulation “…almost never the most talented people reach the highest peaks of success, being overtaken by mediocre but sensibly luckier individuals.”

Luck plays a role in everything from the success of art to sports and business

As mentioned above, luck can have a huge impact on our basic opportunities. It also has an impact on a large range of specific activities from the popularity of a song to picking stocks. We’ve delved into real-life examples of luck helping some well known people to attain crazy levels of success in another article, but here are a few more.

The Music Lab experiment is one such example talked about in many books and articles about luck. The experiment allowed people to download and leave a rating for 48 indie songs from a website. Some of the participants were put into an independent group where the songs were presented randomly with no ratings, and other participants were presented with the songs along with ratings, and in some cases the download numbers for each song.

The experiment showed that in the groups where ratings and download numbers were displayed, the highest quality songs didn’t necessarily become hits. Instead, the most popular song in this group was actually the same song the other group ranked number 26. The experiment showed that luck plays a big role in the success of a song regardless of whether or not it was the highest quality song.

Luck also has a big impact on the performance of businesses. In The Success Equation by Michael J. Mauboussin, a study by Michael Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed and Andrew Henderson is described where 288 companies regularly referenced in 13 books about high performance were analysed to see how skill and luck contributed to their success.

The researchers found only 25% of the 288 companies mentioned in these books could be confidently called high performers, and that the rest might have benefited from luck and could be “random walkers”.

Mauboussin also shows an excellent illustration of just how much of a role luck can play in investing. In 2006 TradingMarkets asked ten Playboy Playmates to choose five stocks to try and beat the market. The highest gain was 43.4% by Deanna Brooks, during a time period where the S&P 500 only rose 13.4%. This beat 90% of the money managers actively trying to do the same thing during the time.

Luck isn’t equally as important in every type of activity

Luck’s role can be bigger or smaller depending on the activity. The more skill-based an activity is, the less of a role it plays.

In The Success Equation this is illustrated using the luck-skill continuum. The continuum categorises activities from those based totally on luck on the left to those based totally on skill to the right, with many activities falling somewhere in the middle.

Using the continuum above you can see just how much of a role luck plays in certain activities. For example, luck plays a larger role in baseball versus basketball and tennis where there are plenty of scoring opportunities in a game. Roulette is totally luck based while running is completely skill-based.

Entertainment-based outcomes including the success of a song or movie have a huge luck component because of the social influences we have on each other as we saw in the Music Lab experiment above. The phenomenon of cumulative advantage also plays a role in the success of entertainment-based activities or products. This is where two songs of similar quality can sell radically different to one another if one is a bit more popular than the other.

There are different ways to assign activities to different places on the continuum, and it can get complex. In The Success Equation, Mauboussin gives three steps for deciding where to place an activity on the continuum:

1. Is there a clear cause and effect relationship? This usually means an activity is more skill-based.
2. How quickly do results return to the average? If they return quickly to the average the activity is likely luck-based and vice versa.
3. Where are experts useful? If predictions among experts about the outcome of the activity are similar this usually indicates the activity is skill-based.

Different aspects of the same activity might even exist in different parts of the continuum. For example the interaction between a pitcher and hitter in a baseball game is based more on skill compared to the overall performance of the whole baseball team where there are more aspects that can influence the outcome.

In activities which are based more on skill, history and the past can be a good teacher. In luck-based activities, history doesn’t help us much.

Knowing if your activity is more skill or luck-based can give you better results

The way you improve your results in an activity depends on how much skill is involved versus how much luck is involved.

According to The Success Equation, skill-based activities require deliberate practice to improve. Deliberate practice is the difficult and time-consuming process of intentionally practicing to improve weaknesses. You can read a quick summary of it in our book review of the book Grit by Angela Duckworth.

To improve in luck based activities you should focus on the process you’re using. A good process has three ingredients:

1. Analysis – Identify the causes of success in your activity and find a competitive edge
2. Psychological – Be aware of common psychological biases that may be impacting your process. For example, we tend to give extra weight to recent activities when making a prediction.
3. Constraints and influences – Be aware of the constraints you’re working within. In your job these might be the influences of your company and industry, and in sports it might be the rules

You’ll also need to realise that even if you have a good process you still might lose in the beginning until you gain expertise.

The larger a “competition” is, the more of a role luck plays

In the book Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy author Robert H. Frank shows that as a “competition” (e.g business, financial, sports or employment) draws more and more “contestants”, luck plays a bigger role in success.

He gives the example of a competition where 98% of contestants’ performance is caused by talent and effort, and 2% is caused by luck. In this competition, all of the top competitors will likely be as talented and hardworking as each other, so the winner will likely be the luckiest of these.

This phenomenon is known in The Success Equation as the paradox of skill, which basically states that as the skill level of participants in a given activity rises, performance becomes more consistent and the importance of luck also rises.

Luck’s role is getting bigger in some activities

The paradox of skill also means that as more and more people take part in an activity, the average skill level is also raised, and therefore luck becomes a more important deciding factor.

Not every activity works this way. In the NBA the average height has risen, and this has the side effect of having the opposite effect because the pool of athletes tall enough to play is shrinking.

The effects of luck are also more magnified today due to technology. In Success and Luck, Frank calls these “winner takes all markets”. In a winner takes all market technology extends the reach of the lucky top performers. Examples of this include tax returns, which are now mostly dominated by one software program: TurboTax when in the past they were completed by local accountants.

We tend to minimise the role of luck in success

As humans we downplay the role of luck in success and celebrate the role of skill mostly because of our own cognitive biases.

In The Success Equation this is blamed on our desire as humans to link cause and effect. Once an event takes place we create a story to explain it which almost acts as if the outcome was a sure thing. Statistics unfortunately don’t have much of a place in these stories.

According to Frank in Success and Luck, other reasons why we downplay luck include:

• Successful people are frequently confronted with the reality of hard work every day, but only infrequently reminded of the luck and fortune they’ve had
• Removing the emphasis on luck might encourage you to put and submit the effort that is also required to be successful
• Emphasising skill over luck strengthens your claim to the results of your successes e.g money

There are also inherent issues in how we study success in the first place. The Success Equation explores how authors and experts study successful businesses to find out how other businesses can apply the same strategies.

This is flawed because unsuccessful companies aren’t included in these studies by definition. To truly see which companies are skilful and which are just lucky, Mauboussin says we should really be asking how many of the companies using a particular strategy were successful. This concept is known as the under sampling of failure.

Closing thoughts about luck and success

The purpose of this article isn’t to say you should stop working hard towards your goals. In fact, it should reiterate that hard work and ability are still essential in success. My hope instead is that this article simply makes you aware of the role luck and randomness could play.

There are two additional reasons why it matters if luck plays a role in success.

Firstly, if successful people acknowledge the role of luck in their success they might be more willing to give back to the institutions and people who helped create that luck. This is one of the main ideas Robert Frank talks about in Success and Luck.

Finally, if you’re better able to account for luck when forecasting or making predictions, you may be able to better plan for the outcome. This is one of the main ideas in The Success Equation.

How to become luckier

Luck is an underestimated ingredient in success. It has a role in the outcomes of the average person all the way up to the most spectacular success stories in history.

It was a crucial success factor in Bill Gates’ and Microsoft’s meteoric rise in the software space and it helped launch the acting careers of Al Pacino and Bryan Cranston. It made Dilbert one of the most popular comics of our time, and it was responsible for the discovery of penicillin.

Luck is important in success, so we should look for ways to increase our good luck and minimise our bad luck.

Some experts think we can actually increase our good luck

Professor Richard Wiseman’s book The Luck Factor explores the idea that we can improve our luck. His research found that good luck is largely a result of your behaviour. It’s a state of mind rather than the result of magic or divine power.

He conducted research on lucky and unlucky people and found that lucky people were creating their good luck in four key ways which he called the “four principles of luck”.

The crux of his book is centered around these four differences or principles, and the 12 sub-principles underneath each of them.

How to improve your luck with Richard Wiseman’s “four principles of luck”

1. Create, notice and act on the chance opportunities in life

Lucky people consistently seem to meet people who can help them in life. They build strong lasting networks with friends and colleagues, and because of this are more likely to receive lucky breaks compared to unlucky people. Unlucky people on the other hand are more likely to meet people who negatively influence their lives.

Lucky people are more relaxed towards life and so notice more opportunities. They also try new experiences regularly which exposes them to unpredictable outcomes.

This principle is all about maximising your basic opportunities, and it’s something we can all do. Imagine the following two people:

Person 1

• Age 35 with 10 years of work experience in a professional role
• Makes a strong effort to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues e.g goes for coffee, makes weekly calls etc
• Strikes up conversations everywhere they go: their favourite cafe, their regular supermarket etc
• Frequently tries new activities, hobbies and places to eat

Person 2

• Age 35 with 10 years of work experience in a professional role
• Doesn’t make much of an effort to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues
• Keeps to themselves in public
• Has the same routine and places to eat

Now imagine both of our hypothetical people were out of a job. Who do you think would find a new job quicker? Which of the two would encounter new opportunities for jobs generally? Person two is my bet. They would have a larger pool of possibilities from their own network and activities.

How to work on this luck principle:

• Call one a friend, family member or acquaintance you haven’t spoken to in a while and speak to them for 10 minutes. Find a new person to call each week.
• Strike up a conversation with someone you haven’t spoken to before each week e.g a work colleague, sports acquaintance, someone in a cafe or supermarket queue
• Have open body language when in public e.g smile and don’t cross your arms
• Make a conscious effort to try new things e.g pick six new experiences you want to try and roll a die to decide which you will do.

Note: Go into this being genuinely interested and curious in what your friends, family and colleagues are up to. This principle was a good reminder for me that I actually enjoy touching base with the people around me and seeing if I can help them in anyway.

2. Improve and listen to your intuition and gut feelings

Lucky people tend to make great decisions by following their hunches. Their business and personal decisions tend to work out great for them, whereas for unlucky people the opposite tends to happen.

How to increase this luck principle:

• Meditation
• Returning to a problem after some time and reflection
• Finding a quiet place to relax and calm your mind before making a decision

3. Expect good luck

Lucky people usually have good expectations about the future and this helps them to reach their goals. They’re more likely to work harder and deal with setbacks when trying to achieve a goal compared to unlucky people, who tend to give up more easily on their goals. Lucky people will try to reach a goal even if the chances are slim.

How to increase this luck principle:

• Visualise yourself being lucky
• Write and repeat a luck affirmation e.g “I am a lucky person and my luck will continue today”
• Write a cost/benefits analysis of any goals you have to motivate you when you encounter a setback
• Set short, medium and long term goals

4. Bounce back from bad luck more effectively

Wiseman noticed that lucky people tend to move past bad luck events better than unlucky people. He found that unlucky people feel ruined by bad luck, whereas lucky people have a habit of seeing bad luck as opportunity. Lucky people don’t dwell on bad luck events and make efforts to avoid similar experiences in the future.

How to increase this luck principle:

• Think about how any bad luck you’ve encountered could’ve been worse
• Question the importance of a bad luck event in the long term. It’s usually not as bad as you think and you may learn something from it
• Compare yourself to unluckier people you know. Don’t compare yourself to luckier people you know
• Think about how bad luck events can actually positively benefit you in the future
• Distract yourself when bad luck happens by exercising, watching a comedy, seeing friends etc
• When bad luck comes your way, create a plan to address it and execute it right away

I strongly recommend reading The Luck Factor to get the nuts and bolts of Wiseman’s ideas. The book also includes a 12-part questionnaire which identifies which of the four principles you’re lacking in the most.

I found that I was most lacking in the first principle. I needed to genuinely work on maintaining my extended social circle. I also wasn’t smiling enough, my body language was closed, and I was sometimes a bit closed off when meeting new people. These were things I’ve wanted to improve about myself for a while, so having another reason to address this has made me feel more connected to the people around me.

5. Zig when others zag (Bonus tip)

In the book How Luck Happens by Janice Kaplan and Barnaby Marsh, one way to increase your luck is to pursue ideas outside the regular. By aiming for an alternative route to success you reduce the competition you face, and therefore make it easier to reach success. This is similar to the blue ocean strategy, where you create a product so unique and valuable to customers that you enter a class of your own.

How to work on this luck principle:

• What is the regular route people aiming for success in your chosen field usually take? How can you get there differently?

6. Have multiple eggs in multiple baskets (Bonus tip)

Another great idea from How Luck Happens is that of diversification. When aiming for success you should throw yourself fully into your primary plan, but also have a number of backup plans. By spending some time preparing these backup plans you can switch quickly if your primary plan doesn’t work out. Having more options gives you more chances of success.

How to work on this luck principle:

• Think about one or two other jobs, sports or business pursuits you could do if you had to stop working on your primary plan tomorrow.

Can introverts follow these principles?

Wiseman’s research found that lucky people were generally more extroverted than unlucky people. You can mostly see this in the first principle, which includes plenty of “lucky” behaviours which some extroverts do naturally.

I myself am naturally introverted. As I mentioned above I was most lacking in the first luck principle, which mainly centers around maintaining a larger network, striking up conversations and having more open body language.

My solution was “fake it till you make it”. I thought of the most sociable people I knew, and wondered how they would approach certain social situations. Then I just started acting on these thoughts before my inner introvert could stop me.

On a recent business trip I struck up an hour long conversation with my seat buddy and we learned about each other and the flight went by much faster. I got off the plane a little bit more mentally fatigued than normal but also felt charged up from the conversation.

Final thoughts: Can you actually improve your own luck?

Some luck experts such as Michael J. Mauboussin, the author of The Success Equation, disagree with Wiseman’s ideas. Mauboussin’s rebuttal is that you can’t technically improve luck because it’s not a skill. Any effort you spend supposedly improving your luck in the way above is actually just improving your skills.

According to Mauboussin we should approach luck with equanimity regardless of the possibilities. We should realise that any outcome is made up of an element of skill which we can control, and an element of luck which we can’t. If we have approached an activity in the correct way but have still lost due to luck, we should shrug it off and try again. Good or bad luck says nothing about us personally.

Regardless, I’ve still found the four luck principles useful in creating positive opportunities for myself, and maybe this is all that matters in the end anyway.

Learn more about luck with the following resources

• The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman. Wiseman’s book explores the four principles of luck in addition to plenty of other interesting information about the activities of lucky and unlucky people.
• The Success Equation by Michael J. Mauboussin. This book explores how luck and skill are related, and how luck factors into success. It also does so from the perspective of using this knowledge to better predict the future.
• Success and Luck by Robert H. Frank. This book explores the relationship between success and luck. The Art of Charm podcast with Frank is also a good way to get the gist of his argument too.
• Warren Buffett and Jay-Z talking about the role of luck in their lives.

Many of us worship competitiveness in business and sports, but according to research, we may need to rethink our love of this trait.

I’m not a very competitive person. I’ve never been one to obsess over competitive sports, video game multiplayer matches or cut-throat board games. And while I’m fascinated by challenge and high stakes performers in sports and business, I’m not the type to rush out and compete. I was comfortable with my level of competitiveness until a recent experience in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class.

During the class I was wrestling someone who was the same level and weight as me but much more competitive. He seemed to want to win a whole lot more than me, and it felt like this desire helped him to eventually beat me.

After the round I started wondering if my lack of competitive nature was hurting my performance. If I were more competitive would I have held on, pushed further and tried every trick in the book to win? More broadly, if I were more competitive would I have a better career or earn more money? Armed with these questions I dug into the science, and what I found was fascinating.

Sports and business is littered with stories of highly competitive individuals and companies who did great things. Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are legendarily competitive and two of the best in basketball and golf respectively. Goldman Sachs has been known to have a highly competitive culture and has had its share of successes.

There are also the infamous stories too. Enron was a company known for its ultra-competitive company culture which was one of the ingredients behind its spectacular bankruptcy in 2001.

Table of contents

• Competition has no direct impact on performance
• Being highly competitive can be detrimental
• The difference between healthy and unhealthy competitiveness
• How to build a healthy attitude to competition
• What to do if you’re too competitive
• What to do if you’re not interested in competing or actively dislike competition
• Can you be non-competitive and still be successful?

Science finds that competition has no direct impact on performance

An interesting meta-analysis (a study merging the results of numerous individual studies on the same topic) of competition research from 2012 showed that competition had no direct impact on performance.

This finding was true regardless of whether the studies were measuring individual competitiveness, perceived environmental competition (e.g the perceived competitiveness of the classroom or office) or structural competition (e.g an actual contest or competition).

According to the meta-analysis, competition produces two substantial direct effects which actually do impact performance. But because these two effects cancel each other out competition has no direct impact on performance. The study called this the “opposing processes model”.

On the positive side, competition causes you to set performance approach goals. This is when you set a goal to outperform others. Performance approach goals are associated with behaviours positive to your performance such as eagerness, task-absorption and persistence.

On the negative side, competition causes you to set performance avoidance goals. This is when you set goals to avoid performing more poorly than others in a competition. Performance avoidance goals are associated with behaviours which can negatively affect your performance such as worry, task-distraction and self-handicapping.

Being too competitive can be detrimental

All this research points to the conclusion that being extra competitive won’t give you a performance boost, and lacking competitiveness won’t hurt performance. But what if you’re already highly competitive? The research shows that this can come with a range of detrimental effects.

A great roundup of research in this study about the ethical implications of competitiveness showed that competition is more likely than cooperation to cause conflict and damaged relationships in small groups. In team settings, highly competitive people struggle to collaborate, are liked less and also don’t contribute much. Being hypercompetitive was also shown to be associated with poor ethics.

Echoing what the meta-analysis above mentioned, the study also showed that being highly competitive also doesn’t necessarily equate to being more successful. Highly competitive people are “rarely high performers” in jobs, tasks and in school. Even highly competitive nations generally have poorer GDP and national wealth. One study of elite tennis players found that their competitiveness didn’t have a bearing on their rankings.

The difference between healthy and unhealthy competitiveness

But the above findings miss one crucial point: sometimes competition is unavoidable. Going for a promotion, playing a team sport or putting extra effort into a school or university assignment are forms of competition that many of us are expected to take part in. It makes sense to want to tackle these forms of competition in a healthy way.

There are two ways to be competitive. On the one hand there’s hypercompetitiveness, and on the other hand there’s the personal development competitiveness attitude (PDCA), otherwise known as the self-developmental competitive orientation.

Hypercompetitive people try to compete and beat you in everything, even seemingly trivial activities. They try everything to avoid losing and to make others lose. Research suggests that for a hypercompetitive person, winning might enhance their feelings of self worth.

Those with a PDCA or a self-developmental competitive orientation don’t compete solely to win. Instead they compete because it encourages self-development and enhances mastery and enjoyment of the task being completed.

People with a PDCA tend to avoid comparing themselves with others, and they respect their competitors. In fact they see their opponents as valuable partners in their self-growth.

As you can see, being competitive can be healthy and contribute to your growth if you have the right type of mindset.

How to build a healthy attitude to competition

The first step is to recognise that the objective of competition is actually personal growth. The reason why you’re competing is to further your skills, learn something and have fun. Winning is still important but it’s not the primary aim.

If we deconstruct the ingredients of a PDCA or self-developmental competitive orientation we can see that it’s a mindset shift. Someone with a healthy attitude to competition will think the following compared to a hypercompetitive person:

	Personal development competitiveness attitude (PDCA)	Hypercompetitive mindset
Aim of competition	To beat my previous performances	To beat others and win
Outcome of competition	Personal growth and increased mastery and enjoyment of the activity	Increase of self-worth by winning and demonstration of superiority
“If I win…”	I have learned something valuable and enjoyed the day	I have proved I am superior and dominant in my field
“If I lose…”	I have learned something valuable and still enjoyed the day. I will apply these learnings and improve my performance next time	I am worthless and embarrassed
“My opponents and training partners are…”	Teachers who are providing me with important lessons both in my chosen field and personally	Rivals who need to be beaten, not befriended

What to do if you’re too competitive

Author and coach Brett Ledbetter gave a great TEDx talk in 2016 which helps answer this.

Similar to what has been mentioned above, he thinks that highly competitive people can benefit from changing their mindset. Instead of seeing competition as a rivalry between yourself and other competitors, you can instead view it as a healthy way to improve yourself.

His idea is that we should stop viewing competition as “me vs you” and instead view it as “me with you”. We need our training partners and opponents in order to push us further to reach our own achievements, so we should push each other in a healthy way as opposed to an unhealthy rivalry.

What to do if you’re not interested in competing or you actively dislike competition

Join the club! My personal interest in competition ranges from “not bothered” to sometimes actively avoiding it.

According to a recent study called The Four Faces of Competition: The Development of the Multidimensional Competitive Orientation Inventory there are actually two other categories you can fall into in addition to hypercompetitiveness and a PDCA / self-developmental competitive orientation.

These two attitudes are anxiety-driven competition avoidance, and lack of interest toward competition.

Those with anxiety-driven competition avoidance feel that winning or losing in a competition could cause rejection or dislike from their peers, so they avoid it.

If you lack interest toward competition you don’t necessarily avoid it, but you don’t seek it or put additional effort into winning any competitions.

It’s important to note that if you don’t like competition, you can still be incredibly successful. There are business strategies like the blue ocean strategy below which are built on non-competition.

If you’re not interested in competition or actively avoid it, the mindset shift table above might help. I personally feel more motivated to compete when I remove the aim to win and instead focus on the personal growth that will come out of competing.

Can you be non-competitive and still be successful?

Some of the most successful people and businesses have used non-competitive strategies. Warren Buffet was reportedly delighted to buy the Buffalo Evening News newspaper because it was the only newspaper in town. In the past he has also spoken about avoiding competition by building a protective “moat” around a business.

There are whole books devoted to the strategy of avoiding competition. Blue Ocean Strategy is one such example. It explains how businesses can unlock huge profits and more customers by creating a product which provides so much value for users that it leapfrogs competition and lands you in your own market altogether.

One successful example of the blue ocean strategy is Cirque Du Soleil, which is now an immensely popular hybrid circus-theatre show. Cirque Du Soleil avoided competition in the relatively small and crowded circus market and created a show where there were stories, acrobatics and artistic performances. It charged higher ticket prices and reduced costs by removing animal shows and “circus celebrities” which didn’t fit with the new concept.

Rather then become a circus competitor, Cirque Du Soleil became an alternative activity. It appealed not just to those who might be interested in going to the circus, but for those who might usually go to a theatre or comedy show.

Curves, iTunes and Lexus are other examples of successful products which sidestepped head-on competition to create products with immense value for consumers. Each of these products resulted in new markets being created for women’s only gyms, high quality legally downloadable music and affordable luxury cars respectively.

---

Do you have any thoughts or experiences with competition and competitiveness? Share them below!

---

Sources

• Murayama, Kou & J Elliot, Andrew. (2012). The Competition-Performance Relation: A Meta-Analytic Review and Test of the Opposing Processes Model of Competition and Performance. Psychological bulletin. 138. 1035-70. 10.1037/a0028324.
• Gábor, Orosz & Tóth-Király, István & Noémi, Büki & Ivaskevics, Krisztián & Bőthe, Beáta & Fülöp, Márta. (2018). The Four Faces of Competition: The Development of the Multidimensional Competitive Orientation Inventory. Frontiers in Psychology. 9. 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00779.

The podcasts you need to listen to in 2019 if you’re serious about improving your life

Podcasts are great, but it’s easy to use them as a replacement for TV and mindless radio chatter. The real value of a podcast is to make use of time you would usually spend doing activities like chopping vegetables, driving or stretching to learn and improve your life.

Self-improvement is a broad topic, so for the purposes of this article I’ve included podcasts from categories including health and fitness, meditation, mindset, biohacking, brain health and general podcasts which cover a combination of these categories.

Without further ado, here are the best self-help podcasts to listen to in 2019:

Happier with Gretchin Rubin

Topics covered: Happiness, habits, mindset

Seeking happiness is the reason we pursue self-help in the first place. The Happier with Gretchin Rubin podcast is full of sage advice to be happier in our daily lives. Regular episodes are 40 – 50 minutes long, and there are also “Little Happier” episodes which are much shorter nuggets of wisdom.

It’s hosted by Gretchin Rubin, a best-selling author; and her sister Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer. Their banter and conversation is warm, genuine and honest, and the episodes are filled with the right mix of practical tips and humour.

Great episodes to start with:

• Episode 90 – Consider the Essential Seven
• Episode 130 – 7 Myths of Happiness
• Episode 84 – Try Doing Something EVERY Day
• Episode 107 – Talking to Susan Cain about introverts

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Topics covered: Human behaviour, relationships, life, business, mindset, success

Jordan Harbinger was a lawyer before he became a successful podcast host, and this shows in his great ability to talk to guests and to get to the point during conversations. Jordan adds a relaxed and humorous atmosphere to his conversations, and relates the messages his guests share to his own life to make it easier for the audience to understand.

His podcast episodes are generally interviews with well known guests, with the aim being to share their strategies and tactics for success. He also regularly publishes Feedback Friday episodes, which are listener-led AMAs with Jordan and his producer Jason DeFillippo. Topics in these episodes can cover relationships, travel, learning languages and everything in between.

Great episodes to start with:

• The negotiation series with Alex Kouts (part one, two and three)
• Why discipline beats motivation with Jocko Willink
• Daniel Pink – When is the best time to get things done

The Art of Manliness

Topics covered: History, mindset, health and fitness, famous men, sports, personal finance

The Art of Manliness is a great general self-help podcast which delves into fitness, historical figures, human performance, personal finance and even smaller topics like conversation skills. There’s also a large number of general interest episodes where you’ll be sure to learn something. These can include episodes about famous US presidents and well known personalities.

Each episode is usually structured as an interview between Art of Manliness founder and host Brett McKay and a guest, with guests usually being well known authors.

Great episodes to start with:

• A proven system for building and breaking habits
• How to have a good day, every day
• Master your testosterone
• The kaizen method – how to get 1% better every day

Kwik Brain

Topics covered: Brain health, memory, mental performance

If you want to improve your memory, focus and everything else relating to your mental performance, Jim Kwik’s podcast Kwik Brain is for you.

Kwik explores concepts such as improving your learning abilities, recalling numbers more easily, foods for brain health and how to read faster. Episodes are short at 10 – 20 minutes, so it’s perfect for a short drive or run.

Great episodes to start with:

• Learn ANYTHING faster
• Improve your memory now
• 10 keys to unlock optimal brain health
• Read one book per week without speed reading

The Tim Ferriss Show

Topics covered: Business, entrepreneurship, startups, learning, performance, health and fitness, biohacking, technology

What list of self-help podcasts wouldn’t be complete without a tip of the hat to the Tim Ferriss show? Tim Ferriss is the best-selling author of The Four Hour Workweek, which is one of the best selling self-help books of all time. The book and podcast centers on improving your life in many ways, including health, wealth, performance, learning, optimisation, business and much more.

Most of Tim’s episodes include a guest, all of whom are world-class performers in their fields. Past guests have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Foxx, retired SEAL Jocko Willink, marketing-guru Seth Godin, chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin and self-help stalwart Tony Robbins.

He also has a number of solo episodes where he deep dives into a specific topic and answers it using a combination of his own knowledge, advice from friends or mentors, useful books and more.

Great episodes to start with:

• Susan Cain – how to overcome fear and embrace creativity
• Tony Robbins – On achievement versus fulfilment
• Greg McKeown – How to master essentialism
• Becoming the best version of you

The School of Greatness

Topics covered: Mindset, happiness, business, entrepreneurship, success

Lewis Howes was a pro-athlete whose dreams of playing in the NFL were dashed by a broken wrist. Since then he’s built and sold a number of businesses, is a New York Times bestselling author and runs the successful School of Greatness podcast. Howes is committed to helping 100 million people to realise their dreams and earn a full time income while making an impact.

The School of Greatness podcast focuses on general self-improvement including topics as diverse as the abundance mindset, nutrition, building a business, masculinity, success habits, meditation and more.

There’s a good variety of episodes, from shorter “5 Minute Friday” episodes to longer episodes with Howes talking at length on a topic. There are also interviews and in depth conversations with big names including Kobe Bryant, LeAnn Rimes, Ben Shapiro, Charlamagne The God, Jordan Peterson and Aubrey Marcus.

Good episodes to start with include:

• Kobe Bryant and the Mamba Mentality
• Tony Robbins: 7 steps to financial freedom

Tony Robbins Podcast

Topics covered: Business, careers, mindset, health and fitness, finance

Tony Robbins doesn’t need much of an introduction in the self-help world. His best selling books, world renowned coaching, and life changing live events are some of the reasons why he’s so synonymous with self-improvement. His advice covers many topics including business, happiness, mindset, performance and more.

Robbins’ podcast is a great source of self-help content, and episodes vary from interviews to recordings from live events, usually running an hour long. Guests have included Russell Brand and Pitbull.

Great episodes to start with:

• Dave Asprey about biohacking
• How to deal with work-related stress  
• Pitbull and his success story
• The Entrepreneur’s Playbook

London Real

Topics covered: Health and fitness, mindset, business

London Real is a video show and podcast hosted by Brian Rose, a mechanical engineer turned investment banker turned podcast host.

This podcast has a higher production value than many others, and has minimal fluff and filler. Rose’s interview style is to ask the very best questions and to let the guest do the talking, so you’ll really get a lot of value from each episode. The lineup of guests on this show is amazing, with singer Wyclef Jean, doctor and author Gabor Mate, ex-bodybuilder Dorian Yates and author and psychologist Jordan Peterson to name a few.

Note that early access to episodes of London Real plus extra content from guests are available for those who are members of the London Real Tribe. This requires a monthly/annual subscription.

Great episodes to start with:

• Steven Kotler on Finding your Flow State
• Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life
• Dr Joe Dispenza on Becoming Supernatural

The Minimalists

Topics covered: Minimalism, decluttering (both mentally and physically), consumerism, entrepreneurship, life, relationships

The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, rose to fame with their website and later their documentary Minimalism. Their philosophy and podcast focuses on living a simple but meaningful life, and as a result there are episodes about most aspects of life. Episode topics include discussing minimalism with your parents, creating a side hustle, minimalism and its impact on a healthy diet and budgeting and wealth to name a few.

Many of the episodes are in a Q&A format where the Josh and Ryan play questions submitted from listeners around a specific topic and then answer them. There are also many interview episodes with well known personalities, podcasters and authors such as Jordan Harbinger.

Great episodes to start with:

• Technology – how to live a minimalist life when it comes to technology
• Millionaires – interview with Chris Hogan about budgeting and wealth creation
• Career – a discussion about jobs, work passions and having a mission in life

10% Happier Podcast

Topics covered: Meditation, mental health, mindset, mindfulness

10% Happier is a podcast hosted by Dan Harris, an ABC news anchor and journalist, author and skeptical meditator. Like most of the podcasts on this list, 10% Happier is an interview style show.

Dan has lengthy conversations with authors and leaders in the meditation and mindfulness space, including big names like Michael Kabat-Zinn, one of the fathers of mindfulness; and Sam Harris, a well known neuroscientist and author.

Each episode also includes listener questions, so when combined with the big picture ideas in the interviews, there’s lots of mental health wisdom on offer.

Great episodes to start with:

• The Power of Negative Thinking with Oliver Burkeman
• How to break up with your phone with Catherine Price

Ben Greenfield Fitness

Topics covered: anti-aging, biohacking, health and fitness, nutrition, lifestyle

If you’re trying to improve your health and performance, Ben Greenfield’s podcast is full of tips and tricks to help you. Ben is a biohacker, blogger, triathlete, personal trainer, author and CEO of Kion, a company that sells everything from coffee to skin care and supplements.

Ben’s podcast delves into a huge variety of issues to help you improve your health and performance, from different diets including the carnivore and ketogenic diets, to anti-aging, fitness trackers and blood and genetic testing.

Great episodes to start with:

• Own the day, Own your life interview with Aubrey Marcus
• What should I eat? The Ultimate Podcast to choosing the perfect diet
• The anti-aging secrets of billionaires

Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

Topics covered: entrepreneurship, startups, business, marketing, branding, side hustles

Smart Passive Income is a high quality blog by Pat Flynn around the topic of making a passive income largely from online businesses.

The Smart Passive Income podcast is an extension of this blog, with a mix of solo episodes where Pat explains a topic in depth, and interview episodes where Pat talks with a guest about a case study or to tap their expertise. Topics range from building a profitable blog, to nurturing a YouTube channel and tend to be 45 – 60 minutes long.

Great episodes to start with:

• The Riches Are in the Niches – the advantage of small
• How to write copy that sells
• How to work less and earn more
• How to build an audience with your hobby

The Art of Charm

Topics covered: Relationships, happiness, goal setting, habits, mindset

The Art of Charm is a self-improvement podcast focusing on building confidence, conversation skills and worthwhile relationships. Other topics include happiness, building habits, setting goals and building a strong mindset.

The podcast is hosted by Art of Charm co-founders AJ Harbinger and Johnny Dzubak, and is a great combination of Johnny’s down-to-earth personality and AJ’s more scientific focus. Some episodes feature AJ and Johnny talking about a topic in-depth, and others include interviews with authors and other guests.

Great episodes to start with:

• Habits
  • Initial episode
  • The 3 phases of habit building
  • Interview with Charles Duhigg about how to break bad habits
• Conversations
  • The Art of Compelling conversations
  • 8 tips to keep the conversation going

Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu

Topics covered: Mindset, health and fitness, nutrition, relationships

Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu is similar to London Real in that it’s actually a video show, but differs in that it usually has an audience watching the conversation. Tom Bilyeu is an entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of Quest Nutrition, makers of the delicious Quest protein bar and one of America’s fastest growing companies in 2014.

Impact Theory episodes are generally interviews between Tom and his guests, who can range from Ketogenic diet experts like Dom D’Agostino to mindset masters like David Goggins.

There are also more intimate AMA episodes where Tom answers listener questions, and these can provide a wealth of self-improvement wisdom too.

Great episodes to start with:

• Mastering your dark side with Robert Greene
• Tony Hawk on choosing progress over perfection
• End inflammation now with Wim Hoff

Bulletproof Radio

Topics covered: Anti-aging, health and fitness, nutrition, mindset, success

Bulletproof Radio is a podcast hosted by Dave Asprey, one of the fathers of biohacking and the CEO of Bulletproof.

Bulletproof Radio is mostly an interview show, with Dave selecting guests known for their ideas in health, fitness, anti-aging and performance. He also speaks to leaders in many other fields, including well known business leaders like Peter Diamandis, and military leaders like Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.The podcast is a trove of good self-help ideas from a wide range of areas of study.

Great episodes to start with:

• From LSD to Chicken Soup – Jack Canfield
• Modern Stoicism and crushing your ego – Ryan Holiday
• Eating Affects Your Sleep (and vice versa) – Satchin Panda
• The Whole Foods Diet: Why Eating Real, Plant-Based Foods Can Boost Health & Longevity: John Mackey

The Joe Rogan Experience

Topics covered: Comedy, anti-aging, martial arts, health and fitness, science, culture

The Joe Rogan Experience is not a self-help podcast, but features so many varied guests, many who provide great tips for improving your life. It’s hosted by Joe Rogan, a successful stand up comedian, UFC commentator and martial artist.

Joe has guests from varied backgrounds such as Dom D’Agostino talking about the ketogenic diet, David Sinclair talking about cutting edge anti-aging research, astrophysicists such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and famous sports people and musicians including Mike Tyson and Steven Tyler. He also has many authors on his podcast, including Jordan Peterson, Dan Harris and Sam Harris, so there’s plenty to choose from.

Another reason why this podcast is useful for anyone trying to improve their life is because Joe practises what he preaches and actively follows suggestions from guests. He believes in other useful practices such as embracing extreme challenge and struggle to grow, and is fairly balanced when he has a guest he doesn’t necessarily agree with. The improvements I’ve made to my own life after listening to the podcast for a few years now have been immeasurable.

Great episodes to start with:

• David Goggins (Episode #1080 and #1212)
• Peter Attia
• Chris Kresser (Episodes #842 and #1037)
• Dr. Andrew Weil

---

What’s your favourite self-help podcast? Let me know below and I’ll add it to the list.