Health & Wellness

‘Note to Self’ Says Luck Isn’t Random—Here’s the Formula Lucky Women Actually Follow

November 5, 2025

You know that ugh feeling when it seems like everyone else has the universe on speed dial? They’re getting dream jobs, meet-cutes, travel upgrades, and somehow always land on their feet—while you’re over here wondering if you accidentally offended your manifestation candle.

On Note to Self, host Payton Sartain sits down with Les Alfred, host of She’s So Lucky, to talk about what really makes someone “lucky.” Whether you’re deep in your self-growth era or just tired of feeling behind, this one’s for you.

‘Note to Self’: How to Be Luckier in 3 Simple Steps

Stop waiting to feel ready—get radically prepared instead

Luck favors the ones who show up ready. “Preparation is what makes us confident,” Alfred says. Think Beyoncé. She’s not fearless because she woke up that way, she’s fearless because she’s rehearsed for a lifetime.

In other words, confidence isn’t a feeling you wait for; it’s the byproduct of being prepared enough to trust yourself. Peyton’s dad, a literal fighter pilot, puts it best: “You want to be the most prepared person for that moment.”

And no, preparation doesn’t just mean work presentations or job interviews. It’s emotional prep too—knowing your triggers, patterns, and tells. Alfred talks about dating and says the prep is self-awareness. Understanding why you react the way you do so you don’t sabotage something good. “We can’t control another person,” she explains. “But we can control how we feel. We can control how we react to things.”

Your comfort zone is where luck goes to die

“Lucky moments don’t exist in our comfort zones,” Alfred says. You can’t play it safe and expect breakthrough moments. The two are fundamentally incompatible. She compares risk to strength training: your muscles have to break down under stress before they rebuild stronger. “You have to kind of push the boundary a little bit for what it is we’re willing to take a risk and do,” she says. Not zero to 100—just slightly beyond what feels comfortable, like adding five pounds at the gym.

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But risk tolerance isn’t just about bold moves…it’s about how you handle rejection. “A big part of increasing our risk tolerance is also increasing our rejection tolerance,” Alfred explains. “Rejection can be something that’s so scary for people.” But as she explains, the real flex isn’t avoiding rejection—it’s how fast you recover from it. “The sooner you can bounce back, the sooner you’re likely to call in the thing that is right for you,” she says.

Train your brain to see luck everywhere

Luck isn’t always a lightning-bolt moment. Most of the time, it’s a series of tiny, easy-to-miss things that add up. “We can consider luck to only be those moments that are really big,” Alfred says. “But there’s also little moments of luck all the time.” Her go-to practice? “A Lucky Log.”

Every time something good happens—getting upgraded on a flight, running into the right person, finding five bucks in your jacket—she drops it in her Notes app. On bad days, she reads it back. “If I’m feeling really down, I’ll go back and reread it to be like, ‘See? Good things do happen. I don’t need a spiral. Yeah. I have these good things.’” That reminder trains your brain to notice the positive instead of automatically scanning for problems.

Research backs it up. Psychologists say people who practice gratitude or positive recall are more likely to spot opportunities and take action on them. That’s why Alfred also swears by “best-case-scenario journaling.” Write out exactly how you want your day to go in ridiculous detail. You’re not manifesting, but teaching your brain what to look for, so when good things happen, you actually see them.

Lucky people aren’t luckier. They’re just braver, more prepared, and way more tuned in. Do those three things long enough, and suddenly, you stop waiting for luck to show up and start realizing it’s been showing up for you all along.