Lakshmi, the Vedic goddess of fortune, 1896, by Raja Ravi Varma (Wikimedia Commons)

The 13 Rules of Good Luck

Luck is learnable

Mitch Horowitz
16 min readMar 14, 2023

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All my life, I’ve been fascinated with the question of good luck. I believe that what we call luck or fortuitous circumstance is not blind chance but rather a network of causative factors, which can be identified and cultivated.

As the 1908 occult classic The Kybalion puts it: “Chance is merely a term indicating cause existing but not recognized or perceived.” This is close in nature to chaos theory, although the word complexity might be substituted for chance.

In matters of luck, I suggest 13 basic rules:

1. Luck is learnable.

2. Good chemistry is powerfully lucky.

3. To be lucky you must be noticed.

4. Prepared minds win.

5. Sobriety is lucky.

6. Persistence beats odds. (This does not apply to gambling.)

7. Failure can be lucky.

8. No is not always the final answer.

9. Enthusiasm and pessimism are a fortuitous combination.

10. Humiliating people brings bad luck.

11. Recognizing others improves luck.

12. You must help “fate” find you.

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Mitch Horowitz
Mitch Horowitz

Written by Mitch Horowitz

"Treats esoteric ideas & movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness"-Washington Post | PEN Award-winning historian | Censored in China