Each year language learning platform Duolingo welcomes a new group of recent grads to the company. This year CEO Luis von Ahn took to LinkedIn to offer them five key pieces of advice pieces of it to be exact.
Most of his points were sensible, if hardly groundbreaking. “Don’t be a jerk,” he instructed. In a world awash in bullies and bros, I personally hope every new hire heeds this call.
But one point struck me as quietly profound. To be successful, von Ahn writes, “you don’t have to be the most brilliant person. You just have to show up and keep going until luck finds you.”
While this might sound simple, it actually encapsulates a whole lot of science on the relationship between luck, hard work, and success. Research (and Steve Jobs) agree with Duolingo’s von Ahn that shifting how you think about effort and chance will make you more successful.
How to be successful at Duolingo
“I recently asked a founder friend what it takes to build a successful company. His answer: ‘65 percent luck, 35 percent hard work for about two decades,’” von Ahn writes in the post. “That matches my experience.”
It also matches the experience of other successful founders such as Mark Cuban who admit that luck plays an outsized role in life. That might sound discouraging at first. Most of us think of luck as something we can’t control after all.
But look closely at von Ahn’s advice and you’ll see a hint that might not be the case. “Keep going until luck finds you,” he suggests. Which implies that we manufacture some of our own luck through perseverance and determination.
Turns out that research shows he’s right. It’s true that we are all given a mix of challenges and advantages in life that we don’t control. Don’t get me wrong, some people start with a huge leg up over others. But studies suggest that our mindset actually plays a bigger part in luck than most people acknowledge.
You can make your own luck
A classic experiment to illustrate this conclusion recruited volunteers for a seemingly tedious task — look through a newspaper and count how many pictures it contained. Then report how long it took you. But there was a hidden trick to this experiment. On the second page the researchers had inserted a box that read something like, “Stop reading now, there are 67 pictures in this paper.”
Some people noticed it and spent seconds on the task. Some people didn’t and kept flipping through for many minutes. What set one group apart from the other? A couple of things.
Those that noticed the short cut were much more likely to consider themselves to be lucky people. They were also much more observant and cognitively flexible. Rather than single-mindedly trudging through the pages, they scanned for opportunities. And when they spotted one, they jumped on it.
The researchers concluded these facts were connected. Luck isn’t just blind chance. It’s also created by behavioral factors that we can control. Being more curious, open, and willing to change course all help make you a luckier person.
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn’s serendipity mindset
Entrepreneur Jason Roberts captured this idea with the concept of “luck surface” area. The more you put yourself out there — by meeting people, writing about your work, talking about your ideas, and generally just plugging along — the more likely you are to connect with opportunities.
Researchers at USC Marshall School of Business frame the same basic idea as a “serendipity mindset.” This is the ability to notice, understand, and respond decisively to lucky breaks and chance encounters. Steve Jobs was a famous master of the serendipity mindset. He never let a previous plan get in the way of seizing a good opportunity.
“A lot of [what it means to be smart] is the ability to zoom out,” he explained in a talk way back in 1982. “And while other people are trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B reading these stupid little maps, you could just see it in front of you. You can see the whole thing.”
Jobs might have had a natural knack for the serendipity mindset, but the USC experts who came up with the term insist anyone can learn it.
In his advice for newcomers to Duolingo, Von Ahn gets the same idea in even simpler language. Some of us think luck is out of our control. But that’s not entirely true. If you just keep showing up in more places, for more hours, and keep your eyes open, luck will find you. And that will make you more successful.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Jessica Stillman
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