Is Isolation Hurting Our Luck?
If luck requires chance encounters, we're having less of them
Imagine what might happen today—think of who you could run into!
My dad used to say this to me on days when I was moody and didn’t feel up to whatever we had planned. I remember being around ten years old when Twister had just come out. I thought Helen Hunt was the absolute coolest. After hearing my dad's encouragement, I would start to think, Maybe I'll run into Helen Hunt today!
Recently, while listening to an episode of What Now with Trevor Noah, I learned about the theory that there are four types of luck—a concept popularized by neurologist James Austin. The four types are:
Blind Luck
Luck from Motion
Luck from Awareness
Luck from Uniqueness
I’ll skip Blind Luck for now—since it covers things beyond our control, like where we were born, our genetic makeup, or even what zip code we live in.
What really caught my attention was Type 2: Luck from Motion (though Types 2 through 4 work hand-in-hand). It all starts with one thing: movement. Getting lucky, it turns out, often just requires the decision to move.
You get out of bed and decide to walk to the coffee shop near your house. That simple choice sets you on a course for myriad chance encounters—opportunities that would never materialize if you stayed home, or even if you chose to drive instead of walk. You maximize the possibility for life-changing or eye-opening moments: bumping into an old friend who remembers a job opening that’s perfect for you; a brief, inspiring chat with the barista that sparks your next article; standing behind your future spouse in line.
None of these moments happen when we stay home, brewing coffee in isolation and hopping online to interact in curated spaces with like-minded people. The randomness—and magic—of real-life encounters disappears.
But it’s not just one-off collisions that create luck. Ritual matters too. Regularly meeting with the same group—whether at work, a weekly class, church, or even the dog park—builds familiarity and trust. When people see you consistently, they think of you when opportunities arise, and you do the same for them. This is the luck that rewards those who show up—consistently, enthusiastically. (It’s why they say showing up is half the battle.)
Think of the random, joyful encounters that happen when we commute to the office, grab a drink after work, buy groceries, or walk our dogs. They aren’t scripted. They can’t be staged like an Instagram post or a LinkedIn profile. They’re real, messy, and sometimes surprisingly meaningful.
Are we making ourselves unlucky by staying home in the name of convenience? What are we giving up and missing out on? What new ideas or passions could spark if only we bumped into more people, places, and signs?
I talk to so many clients who feel the energy draining from their bones; they believe they are quite unlucky. They don’t know what they’re good at, nothing seems that interesting, and they don’t know what mark they want to leave on the world. How could they? They aren’t moving about the real world, so inspiration never comes to them.
I probably won’t run into Helen Hunt at the grocery store. But I can guarantee she’s not going to show up at my house and ring the doorbell.
We already know that loneliness can harm our health. But what if it’s also robbing us of those thrilling, serendipitous encounters—the lucky breaks—that make each new day worth looking forward to?