Publishing Your Work Increases Your Luck

Going further, he codifies it into a formula where:

Luck = [Doing Things] * [Telling People]

The more things you do multiplied by the more people you tell, the larger your Luck Surface Area becomes. The larger your Luck Surface Area, the more likely you are to catch luck as it flows by.

You actually are doing things, you’ve just trained yourself to think that anything you do isn’t worth sharing.

You want to be doing things, but you can’t bring yourself to get started.

If you’re in the first group, you may need to step back and reframe the work you’re already doing. This is a common blind spot for people who are executing at a high level! They’ve forgotten just how much they know. They think that they’re not doing anything interesting because they assume that everyone knows as much as they do

It's likely you're constantly solving problems and learning interesting things at your job. This is a great opportunity to take what you’re already doing and repurpose it for the benefit of others. You can turn those learnings into blog posts, conference talks, meetups, podcasts, or open source projects.

Of course not everything you do at work is shareable. If the specifics aren’t shareable, the concepts, lessons, and takeaways likely are. While you’re working, keep a scratch pad open and jot down any problems you come across, interesting patterns you see, or things you found confusing. Do this for a month and you’ll have more things to share than you know what to do with!

Sharing things you’re learning or making is not prideful. People are drawn to other people in motion. People want to follow along, people want to learn things, people want to be a part of your journey. It’s not bragging to say, “I’ve made a thing and I think it’s cool!” Bringing people along is a good thing for everyone. By publishing your work you’re helping people learn. You’re inspiring others to create.