Creating your own career luck might be easier than you think

Have you ever had a moment in your career or life in general, that didn’t seem like a big thing in the moment—but ended up being pivotal to the trajectory of your personal or career journey?

What to expect from this article

1. This is not your typical career checklist.
   Instead of focusing on rigid plans or traditional advice, we'll explore how internal drivers, chance encounters, and personal presence can shape meaningful and fulfilling career journeys.
2. You’ll learn about three powerful forces:
   Intrinsic motivation, planned happenstance, and charisma—each of which plays a unique role in how we navigate uncertainty and discover new opportunities in our careers.
3. We’re embracing the non-linear path.
   The most impactful career moves often come from spontaneity, not strategy. You’ll see how letting go of strict control can actually help you find a path that feels more authentic and energizing.

I'm sure we've all thought for ourselves "if I check off all the boxes of popular career advice—keep my LinkedIn updated, write compelling cover letters, and networked regularly—success would naturally follow."

And then... It doesn't. All the while everyone else seems to be having their lucky breaks.

What gives?

While I still believe getting your job search fundamentals in order is extremely helpful to do, in practice, career paths tend to be much less linear than we usually expect them to be.

Some of the most meaningful career moments I’ve experienced personally and perceived in the journeys of others came not from predetermined career tracks and strictly strategic plans, but from spontaneous conversations, side projects, or simply being in the right mindset when an opportunity presented itself.

In addition, when interviewing and listening to keynotes, panel conversations and fireside chats with people who most would deem successful; when talking about their success, they seem to credit it to following their passion, staying true to themselves and/or getting lucky.

This got me thinking: what really shapes our career growth? And since so many people say they got lucky—what are the conditions that allow "getting lucky" to happen in the first place?

While I've been diving into this, three things have keep on showing up:

• Intrinsic motivation
• Serendipity or planned happenstance
• Presence or charisma

While each stands on its own, I have explored the relationships and positive influence these theories have on each other in the context of highly aligned career paths. Now it's time for me to share with you what I've found out so far.

Let’s start with motivation

Total Motivation (often referred to as ToMo) is a theory developed by Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi. It goes beyond productivity and looks at what actually drives us to show up fully at work.

This theory defines six motivations that are split into two categories:

• Intrinsic motivations: the inner drive to do something because it is inherently interesting, enjoyable, or meaningful, rather than for external rewards or pressures.
• Extrinsic motivations: the drive to perform a task or behavior in order to earn a reward or avoid punishment from an external source.

They further define three core sources of positive, intrinsic motivation that contribute favorably to your performance:

• Play: engaging in an activity because you find it inherently enjoyable and interesting, regardless of the outcome.
• Purpose: doing something because it aligns with your deeply held values or because you believe it contributes to something meaningful.
• Potential: engaging in an activity because you believe it will help you grow or lead to future personal or professional development.

They also identify three motivations that contribute negatively to performance:

• Emotional pressure: doing something to avoid guilt or anxiety or to gain approval, rather than from genuine interest or alignment with personal values.
• Economic pressure: to act based on the need for external rewards or to avoid financial or material loss, rather than intrinsic interest.
• Inertia: doing something simply out of habit or routine, without actively choosing or feeling motivated by it.

When extrinsic motivations dominate, people tend to disengage and not be as interested or invested in performing the necessary actions.

When intrinsic motives like play and purpose are high, people are more curious, resilient, and energized. This kind of motivation fuels exploration and adaptability—two things that are essential in a career landscape where the unexpected often plays a big role.

Then there’s planned happenstance

Planned Happenstance is a theory by John Krumboltz that encourages people to embrace the unpredictable. Rather than treating careers as predictable ladders to climb, planned happenstance views them as dynamic paths shaped by both intention and chance. It shifts the focus from rigid goal-setting (e.g., “I must become X by age Y”) to a more flexible mindset of learning, exploration, and openness to serendipity.

When applied, this approach:

• Encourages experimentation over certainty—trying internships, side projects, or even talking to someone in a different field without a fixed agenda.
• Builds momentum one step at a time rather than aiming for a perfect long-term plan from the outset.
• Reduces anxiety about "figuring it all out" early, by normalizing career pivots, nonlinear progress, and discovery through action.

In short, planned happenstance reframes career development from a linear track where there's predetermined milestones to a process of ongoing exploration where being adaptable, curious, and engaged in the present can lead to opportunities you couldn’t have predicted in advance.

The more you put yourself out there, the more likely it is for unplanned and unforeseen opportunities to happen for you.

Finally, let’s talk about charisma

Out of the three factors I'm discussing in this article, charisma is arguably the least important since it can be seen more as a product of intrinsic motivation and strategies and mindset prominent in planned happenstance.

Charisma might seem like a pretty vague trait and even difficult to grasp with so let's run through a quick definition of charisma:

Charisma is a social and psychological phenomenon that describes a person's ability to influence, inspire, and attract others through a unique combination of emotional expressiveness, confidence, social sensitivity, and presence.

Rather than being a mysterious, innate trait, modern research suggests that charisma is composed of identifiable behaviors and characteristics—many of which can be developed.

What’s especially interesting in the context of job search and career paths, is how deeply charisma connects to motivation. When you’re aligned with what drives you, you naturally communicate with more clarity, conviction, and energy. That kind of presence is often perceived as charisma—even if you don’t think of yourself as particularly “charismatic.”

It certainly doesn't hurt your job search and career growth if you can get your message across clearly and get people excited about your interests and ideas.

How all three come together

What ties these theories together is that each one contributes to a broader picture of career development:

• Motivation drives curiosity, effort, and energy.
• Happenstance turns curiosity into opportunity.
• Charisma helps convert those opportunities into lasting connections or roles.

When someone is intrinsically motivated, they’re more likely to engage with the world in ways that attract attention, spark conversations, and open doors. That doesn’t mean you can control every outcome—but it does mean you can increase your exposure to meaningful possibilities.

What this looks like in real life

I’ve seen this play out in different ways—through friends, colleagues, community members and personal experience. Many opportunities sprout from seemingly random or casual conversations where a mutual goal or idea inspired collaboration. Here's a couple of stories to give you some examples.

I founded a community before I formally became a community professional. I didn't get paid for it, I just wanted to bring people together to share knowledge and learn together. By the time my current role opened, I had already accumulated some community experience. Not because I knew I wanted to become a Community Manager but because I was following my own interests and sense of purpose.

Another story about the intersection of intrinsic motivation and happenstance comes from the Founder of a company I worked with previously, Mikael Thuneberg of Supermetrics. He didn't aim to become an entrepreneur or a founder originally, he was simply frustrated with the unnecessary manual work involved in marketing analytics—his job at the time. Through some happenstance, Google was also trying to solve the same problem as Mikael, and through his discovery of a solution, he ended up monetizing it and founding a company that would scale into a globally recognized powerhouse in the field of marketing analytics.

None of it was “optimized” in the way you might think of ticking boxes off of a list or nailing your keywords in your LinkedIn profile (though it certainly doesn't hurt either.) But it was all rooted in openness, intention, and presence.

Rethinking career advice

Traditional advice often focuses on structure and control—set goals, polish your resume, follow up promptly. And all of that matters. But it’s equally important to nurture the internal and interpersonal qualities that help you navigate and help you get the most out of the unplanned parts of your journey.

To sum up this framework, I’d say this:

• Start with what motivates you—work that feels energizing and aligned
• Make room for the unexpected—stay curious, take small risks, show up
• Learn how to show up with presence—your story, your values, your voice

This isn’t a checklist but a mindset. And it’s one that, in my experience, creates space for a career that’s not only successful, but also meaningful and uniquely yours.

What's next?

If you made it here to the end, I'd like to leave you with a little challenge because what is more powerful than trying it out for yourself.

Commit to doing three things just because. No overthinking. No second-guessing whether you have what it takes.

• Have a conversation with someone new at an event or online.
• Share your interest on LinkedIn or other professional platform.
• Join a fun activity just for the enjoyment of it.

References:

• Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The Happenstance Learning Theory. Journal of Career Assessment.
• McGregor, L., & Doshi, N. (2015). Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation.
• Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011). Can charisma be taught? Tests of two interventions. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(3), 374–396.
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior.
• Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology.

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