Life, Improvised

Life, Improvised

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Life, Improvised
Life, Improvised
How to Generate Your Own Luck

How to Generate Your Own Luck

Luck isn’t just about chance—it’s about presence, energy, and choosing to be the version of yourself that feels lucky. You can improvise your way to more luck!

Mary Lemmer's avatar
Mary Lemmer
Mar 17, 2025
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Life, Improvised
Life, Improvised
How to Generate Your Own Luck
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Have you ever noticed how some people just seem... lucky? Like good things are always happening to them? Here's the thing: luck isn't just about chance. It's about presence. It's about energy. It's about how you show up. And what else is about presence, energy, and how you show up?

Improvising!

Inspired by St. Patrick's Day, since, according to 23andme I'm 30.7% British and Irish, I wanted to write about luck and how practicing an improvisational mindset can help us generate our own luck.

A few days ago I posted a Substack Note asking What do you do when you find a penny? To my surprise, every comment so far has shared the same answer: they pick it up. It seems that the idea of luck—whether we believe it or not—drives us to act in ways that invite it into our lives. This got me thinking about how we can actively generate our own luck, rather than just waiting for it to find us.

In today's 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm CET Substack live, I invited people to imagine a time they felt lucky. Maybe they won a prize, landed a dream job, found $20 in an old jacket, or didn't get a speeding ticket even though they were pulled over (bonus points if you actually thanked the officer for their kindness like a true lucky person would!)

Once they remembered that moment, I encouraged them to really feel it. What did feeling lucky feel like in their body? Did their breathing slow down or open up? Did their shoulders relax? Did they move more freely, smile more easily, stand a little taller? When we feel lucky, we carry ourselves differently—more confidently, more openly, more joyfully.

For me, a lucky moment I've experienced was during a visit to New York City. During this trip I felt an overwhelming intuition that I needed to move there—no logic, no plan, just a strong gut feeling. Then, during one of my meetings on that visit, I mentioned my interest in moving there, and the woman I was meeting with casually said she was renting out a room in her house. She showed me pictures, and I was sure it would be out of my budget. It wasn’t. It was a great fit. It felt like magic—a moment where the universe said, "Yep, do this!"

And here's the fun part: You can play this lucky character anytime you'd like. When we improvise, we step into different characters all the time. Even though we can't control the scene or what others are doing, we can control how we show up. Life works the same way. We may not control the chaos, but we can decide to move through it like someone who feels lucky.

Research backs this up too. Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman's research shows that people who expect good things tend to notice and seize more opportunities. Their mindset primes them to see possibilities others might overlook. Essentially, feeling lucky trains your brain to spot luck when it shows up.

So today, show up as if you're lucky and witness how that impacts your day. Here's how:

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