Chapter 36 Exercises: The Luck Audit

How to Use These Exercises

The exercises in this chapter are built around the seven-domain luck audit framework. The centerpiece is the Full Luck Audit Self-Assessment (Exercise 3), which should take 45–60 minutes and constitutes the core practical work of this chapter. The other exercises build toward it, deepen it, or apply its findings in specific ways.

Work through Level 1 before attempting Levels 3–5. The audit exercises are meant to be revisited — not just completed once.

Level 1: Comprehension and Recall

Exercise 1.1 — Domain Mapping

Match each audit domain to its primary diagnostic question:

Questions: 1. Are you taking the right kinds of bets with the right distribution? 2. What signals are you actually seeing and noticing? 3. Does your environment support luck-generating behavior? 4. Who can reach you with opportunities? 5. Are you ready when luck arrives? 6. How many contexts do you inhabit? 7. How fast do you bounce back from bad luck?

Exercise 1.2 — Key Distinctions

In two to three sentences each, explain the difference between:

a) The luck audit and a goal-setting exercise b) The luck audit and a gratitude practice c) A luck audit and a performance review

Exercise 1.3 — Research Application

The chapter describes Di Stefano et al.'s 2014 study on structured reflection and performance. In your own words:

a) What did the study find? b) What was the proposed mechanism (cognitive elaboration)? c) How does this finding support the luck audit as a recurring practice rather than a one-time event?

Exercise 1.4 — Character Audit Findings

For each character, identify: (i) Their strongest audit domain (ii) Their most surprising audit finding (iii) The one specific action they committed to as a result

Characters: Nadia, Marcus, Dr. Yuki, Priya

Level 2: Application and Analysis

Exercise 2.1 — Domain Deep Dive: Network

Rate your current network on each of the following dimensions (1 = very weak, 5 = very strong):

• Size of genuine weak-tie layer (people who'd take your email seriously, outside your immediate circle)
• Diversity across fields/industries/worldviews
• Presence of at least one active sponsor
• Regularity of network maintenance
• Your clarity about what you're working on and what you need (serendipity hooks)

Calculate your total network domain score (out of 25). Write three sentences describing your most significant network gap.

Exercise 2.2 — Domain Deep Dive: Opportunity Surface

For one week, keep a log of every context you inhabit — physical and digital — where you encounter people or information you didn't already know.

At the end of the week: a) Count the distinct contexts (aim for genuinely distinct — not "five Instagram feeds" but five different communities or environments) b) For each context, note whether you were a passive consumer or an active participant c) Identify one context you are aware of but not currently participating in, that is relevant to your goals

Exercise 2.3 — The Bottleneck Analysis

Review the "Common Audit Findings" section of the chapter. Identify the one finding that most closely describes your current situation. Write:

a) Which common finding describes you best and why b) The specific fix recommended by the chapter for that finding c) One concrete action you could take this week to begin implementing that fix

Exercise 2.4 — Retrospective Luck Analysis

Identify a significant positive lucky break from your past two years. Apply the seven-domain framework retrospectively:

a) Which domains were supporting that lucky break (i.e., your strength in that domain made the break possible or recognizable)? b) Which domains were irrelevant to it? c) If you'd audited your luck architecture six months before the break happened, would the audit have pointed to where the luck was coming from? d) What does this retrospective analysis tell you about where your luck is most likely to come from next?

Level 3: The Full Luck Audit Self-Assessment

This is the centerpiece exercise. Set aside 45–60 minutes. Find a quiet space. Answer honestly — not aspirationally.

DOMAIN 1: NETWORK

Rate each item 1–5 (1 = not at all true, 5 = very true for me right now):

___ I have meaningful connections across at least three genuinely different professional or social worlds.

___ Most of my close contacts have different backgrounds, fields, and viewpoints from each other.

___ I formed at least one significant new weak tie in the last 60 days.

___ I have at least one person who would advocate for me in a room I'm not in.

___ I regularly create value for my network without expecting immediate return.

Domain 1 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest network gap (one sentence):

One specific network action I will take in the next 30 days:

DOMAIN 2: OPPORTUNITY SURFACE

Rate each item 1–5:

___ I am actively present in at least three distinct communities (physical or digital).

___ In most communities I belong to, I am a contributor, not just a consumer.

___ I attended something new (conference, meetup, workshop) in a different field within the last 60 days.

___ There are no communities I know are relevant to my goals that I haven't joined yet.

___ People in my communities know specifically what I'm working on and what kind of help I need.

Domain 2 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest opportunity surface gap (one sentence):

One specific opportunity surface action I will take in the next 30 days:

DOMAIN 3: ATTENTION AND MINDSET

Rate each item 1–5:

___ I have a regular practice for noticing and recording interesting information, unexpected connections, or potential opportunities.

___ When something unexpected happens, I tend to explore it rather than dismiss it.

___ I generally expect to encounter good opportunities (without being naively optimistic).

___ I am aware of my most active cognitive biases and have strategies to counter them.

___ When I'm in a new environment, I actively scan for interesting people and information.

Domain 3 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest attention/mindset gap (one sentence):

One specific attention/mindset practice I will start this week:

DOMAIN 4: SKILL PREPARATION

Rate each item 1–5:

___ I have genuine depth of expertise in at least one domain relevant to my most important current goals.

___ I am engaged in some form of deliberate practice — structured skill development that stretches me.

___ I have meaningful knowledge across several adjacent domains that lets me make unusual connections.

___ I am visibly learning something in public right now — a process others can observe.

___ I have at least one skill combination that is genuinely distinctive — rare enough to create unusual value.

Domain 4 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest skill preparation gap (one sentence):

One specific skill preparation action I will take in the next 30 days:

DOMAIN 5: ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Rate each item 1–5:

___ My daily physical environment creates natural opportunities for serendipitous interaction.

___ My information diet includes regular exposure to ideas from outside my primary field.

___ The people I see most often expand my world rather than only confirming my existing views.

___ My daily schedule includes regular, low-structure time that I can use to follow tangents or have unexpected conversations.

___ I have at least one default system that automates a luck-generating behavior (regular outreach, diverse reading, etc.).

Domain 5 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest environmental design gap (one sentence):

One specific environmental change I will make this week:

DOMAIN 6: RISK PORTFOLIO

Rate each item 1–5:

___ I currently have meaningful bets running across at least two different domains (not all eggs in one basket).

___ My current activities include a meaningful exploration component, not just execution of existing paths.

___ I have made at least one significant bet in the last six months that genuinely scared me.

___ My current portfolio has some "barbell" structure — some very safe things and some high-risk/high-reward things.

___ My current commitments still preserve some ability to seize unexpected opportunities.

Domain 6 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest risk portfolio gap (one sentence):

One specific risk portfolio action I will take in the next 30 days:

DOMAIN 7: RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE

Rate each item 1–5:

___ When bad outcomes happen, I typically explain them in situational, specific, and temporary terms (not "I'm just bad at this").

___ After a significant setback, I return to productive function relatively quickly (within days, not months).

___ I have a support network I can activate for practical help — not just emotional support — when things go wrong.

___ My current situation has some structural failure tolerance — one bad outcome won't blow up everything.

___ When I recover from setbacks, I systematically extract lessons before moving on.

Domain 7 Score: ___ / 25

My biggest resilience gap (one sentence):

One specific resilience-building action I will take in the next 30 days:

AUDIT SUMMARY

Record your scores:

Scoring guide: - 140–175: Strong luck architecture — identify your two lowest domains for focused improvement - 105–139: Developing luck architecture — two or three domains need meaningful investment - 70–104: Emerging luck architecture — focus on your two lowest domains; don't try to fix everything at once - Below 70: Foundation-building phase — focus entirely on your single lowest domain for the next 90 days

My top two improvement domains are: 1. ____ (score: ) 2. ____ (score: )

YOUR LUCK REDESIGN PLAN

Based on your audit findings, complete the following:

Domain 1 priority: - Three specific 30-day actions: 1. 2. 3.

Domain 2 priority: - Three specific 30-day actions: 1. 2. 3.

My minimum viable daily luck practice (one sentence — the smallest behavior I can commit to every day):

Who I will share this plan with and when:

My 90-day review date:

Level 4: Synthesis and Design

Exercise 4.1 — The Recurring Audit System

Design a personal luck audit schedule for the next 12 months. Include:

a) Monthly mini-audit: which domain will you focus on each month, and why in that order? b) Quarterly full audit: what specific triggers (life events, milestones, or calendar dates) will prompt each quarterly review? c) Annual deep audit: what additional retrospective questions will you add to the full seven-domain audit at year-end?

Write this as a concrete implementation plan — not just an intention, but specific dates and calendar blocks.

Exercise 4.2 — The Domain Interaction Map

The seven domains of luck architecture don't operate independently. Draw a simple diagram showing the interactions you believe exist between your top two priority domains and at least three other domains. For each connection you draw, write one sentence explaining the mechanism.

Example: "My Opportunity Surface domain affects my Network domain because the new communities I join are where I form new weak ties."

Exercise 4.3 — The Minimum Viable Audit

You're advising a friend who is overwhelmed and says they don't have time to do a full seven-domain audit. Design a 10-minute "minimum viable luck audit" — the fewest, most high-leverage questions that would give someone the most essential diagnostic information.

Write the questions you would include (no more than 7, one per domain) and explain why you chose each one.

Exercise 4.4 — The Pre-Mortem Audit Application

(Preview of Case Study 1.)

Imagine that one year from now, you look back and your luck architecture has gotten significantly worse. Write a brief (200-word) "post-mortem" — what went wrong, and in which domains?

Now flip it: given this imagined failure, what are the specific structural risks in your current luck architecture that could actually produce this outcome? What would you change now to prevent it?

Level 5: Research and Advanced Application

Exercise 5.1 — The Organizational Luck Audit

The luck audit framework was designed for individuals, but its principles apply to organizations, teams, and communities. Choose an organization you belong to (a club, a workplace, a family, a creative team). Apply the seven-domain framework:

a) Which domains are most relevant to an organization's "luck architecture"? b) Which domains might need to be modified or reframed to apply at an organizational level? c) What would a high-scoring organizational luck audit look like in your chosen organization? d) Identify the organization's highest-leverage improvement domain and propose three specific changes.

Exercise 5.2 — The Research Foundation

For each of the seven audit domains, identify one research finding from earlier in this textbook that provides the empirical foundation for why that domain matters. (For example: Domain 1 — Network — is grounded in Granovetter's strength of weak ties research.) Write a brief paragraph connecting the research to the domain.

Exercise 5.3 — Audit Instrument Design

The audit instrument in Exercise 3 uses a 1–5 Likert rating scale. This is one approach. Research the following alternative assessment approaches and evaluate which might provide better diagnostic information for luck architecture assessment:

a) Behavioral frequency counts (how often do you do X per week?) b) Comparative benchmarking (how does your practice compare to specific exemplars?) c) 360-degree assessment (asking others to rate you on luck-generating behaviors) d) Outcome-based assessment (measuring luck outcomes rather than behaviors)

Write a 400-word analysis of the tradeoffs between these approaches and the Likert-based approach used in this chapter.

Exercise 5.4 — The Cross-Cultural Luck Audit

Research suggests that luck attitudes and opportunity-seeking behaviors vary significantly across cultures. Consider how the seven-domain luck audit might need to be adapted for individuals in:

a) A collectivist culture where network-building norms differ significantly from Western individualist approaches b) A culture with significantly different risk tolerance norms (more or less risk-averse than Western defaults) c) A culture with high external locus of control beliefs (fatalism) as the dominant worldview

For each cultural context, identify which domains would need to be reframed and how.