Make Your Own Luck
Prepare, persist, and say yes when a narrow opening appears
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 96%
Make Your Own Luck combines a fixed destination with flexible, persistent action. First, state the desired work clearly and ask someone inside the field what evidence would make an applicant stand out. Then deliberately acquire that evidence, even through unpaid or unconventional assignments, while continuing to apply and remain visible at relevant events. Treat near misses as relationship-building opportunities rather than final verdicts. When a small opening appears, respond immediately and prove useful; a three-day contract can become a career foothold. The mechanism is cumulative: preparation improves credibility, repeated contact creates familiarity, and prompt action converts chance events into progress. Success is not guaranteed, but each cycle produces stronger proof and better positioning for the next opportunity.
Origin
Sue Flood described how advice from a BBC producer led her to build distinctive field experience, persist through repeated applications, and accept a three-day opening immediately before working on major David Attenborough series.
Core principles
- 01Preparation makes unlikely opportunities usable
- 02Distinctive experience earns a second look
- 03Repeated contact turns rejection into familiarity
- 04Trying prevents future regret
- 05Fast commitment matters when an opening is brief
How to run it
- 1
Define the destination
State the work you want in specific terms so that insiders can give useful guidance.
Pro tip Ask for advice rather than asking a stranger to give you a job.
- 2
Find the differentiator
Ask what qualified applicants commonly lack and identify evidence that would make someone take a second look.
Pro tip Seek guidance from a practitioner who understands the actual selection process.
- 3
Prepare before selection
Acquire relevant skills and field experience before knowing whether the target opportunity will materialize.
Pro tip Choose experiences that create both practical ability and a memorable résumé signal.
Watch out Do not confuse accumulating credentials with building evidence relevant to the target work.
- 4
Persist visibly
Keep applying, attend field events, and update contacts with substantive new progress.
Pro tip Use each new experience to make the next approach stronger.
Watch out Stay determined without becoming so pushy that contacts avoid you.
- 5
Convert the opening
When a small, relevant opening appears, commit quickly and perform well enough to earn the next extension.
Pro tip Be ready to start before the opportunity appears.
Watch out Immediate action should not override essential safety or ethical checks.
- 6
Compound the proof
Turn each assignment into skills, relationships, and evidence for the next larger opportunity.
Pro tip Apply again from a stronger position rather than treating the first foothold as the finish line.
In the wild
After being told that many applicants already had zoology or biology degrees, Flood joined conservation work in Australia, trained as a diver, and volunteered at the Bermuda Biological Station and on a shipwreck excavation. Those experiences changed her BBC applications from rejection letters into interviews.
→ Distinctive, relevant experience moved her progressively closer to a BBC role.
After narrowly missing a job, Flood accepted an invitation to visit the BBC and kept in touch. During a canteen meeting, a researcher failed to arrive for work. Asked when she could start, Flood said that day and received a three-day contract that was repeatedly extended.
→ A brief opening became her first break working on Wildlife on One.
Flood saw her photographs move onto prominent magazine covers, decided she would rather try than wonder whether she could succeed, and resigned from the BBC. The next day she was invited to speak aboard a Russian nuclear icebreaker, leading to seven North Pole trips.
→ Prepared work and a deliberate leap opened a second career path.
Common mistakes
Waiting for certainty
Flood prepared and applied without knowing whether any individual application or expedition would work out.
Blending in with qualified applicants
A standard degree was not enough; she needed distinctive, relevant field evidence that made selectors look twice.
Turning persistence into pressure
Determination helps, but being too pushy damages the relationships that may produce future openings.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for people pursuing selective careers where experience, relationships, and timing matter.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for choices that require irreversible commitments without time for due diligence.
From the transcript
“you need to put something on your resume that will make us take a second look, because we get lots of people with their zoology…”
“I said, absolutely. And he said, when could you start? And I said, today.”
“what that gave me was the confidence to at least try and if I didn't succeed, at least I tried, you know?”
From the episode
#567: A Rare Podcast at 30 Below Zero — Sue Flood on Antarctica, Making Your Own Luck, Chasing David Attenborough, and Reinventing Yourself
Sue Flood