10 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone to Get Lucky
Many of us tend to think of “luck” as something that is entirely outside of our control. But people who say that you “make your own luck” are aware that there are things we can do to stack the deck in our favor.
This is a topic we went into in-depth in this post, in which we discussed a 10-year study into the nature of what we call “luck,” and how some people manage to make themselves luckier than others.
In that post, we briefly mentioned that people who perceive themselves as “lucky” have a tendency to deliberately step outside their comfort zones often.
The value of breaking your routines is that you expose yourself to new people, situations and information. You may have saturated your “opportunity potential” along the well-beaten paths that you typically walk, but there could be all kinds of untapped potential just waiting for you to discover elsewhere.
Here is a good way to look at “creating your own luck” in this fashion:
You cannot force chance to work in your favor. But you can give yourself more chances for favorable outcomes.
In this post, we are going to go over some ideas for how you can break out of your comfort zone more often, giving yourself more chances to increase your luck.
Some of these tips will focus closely on gambling, while others will be more general. You never know where your next stroke of luck will come from!
Play Different Casino Games
First, let’s start with an obvious one. If you usually default to playing the same games every time you log into the casino, you might be holding yourself back from some lucky opportunities.
Here are a few specific ways in which playing new casino games could increase your luck:
- You might discover some games that have a higher return-to-player (RTP) percentage than those you have been playing. By definition, these games will pay out more to you over time
- You could quite randomly end up winning a jackpot playing a game you might otherwise not have played (though conversely, you could just as easily randomly miss out on one at a game you would otherwise have played)
- You may find out that you have a talent for a game that involves not just luck, but actual skill, like poker. This could open an unexpected pathway to greater financial fortune in your life. If you had never tried that game, you would never have discovered your talent
Sometimes the luck you experience isn’t about money. Maybe you just will feel lucky to find a new favorite game to enjoy.
You will learn things from playing different casino games too. Sometimes what you learn will change how you see or approach the games you usually play.
For example, you might learn a lesson about probabilities or money management while playing roulette for the first time. You then realize those lessons apply to slots, which you usually play. As a result, you start managing your slots money better, extending your bankroll for more chances to win.
Speaking of “different games”, you should go and check out this “What Is The Fish Catch Game?” article!
Check Your Casino’s Promotions Page
How often do you drop by the promotions pages at your favorite online casinos? If you are not doing it frequently, you are missing out on all sorts of lucky opportunities.
For starters, obviously you will feel lucky to catch a promotion you would otherwise have missed, especially one which is really fleeting.
For another thing, this is a great way to break out of your comfort zone. Casinos frequently create promotions to help players discover games they want to highlight. Often, these games are brand new.
The promotions can give you more chances to get lucky as you play (they are typically free spins), and you will feel lucky to find out about these exciting games.
On a related note, we recommend you participate in tournaments and leaderboards. Tournaments in particular can be highly profitable. So, even if the tournament your online casino is hosting is for a game you do not normally play, you should dive in there and give yourself a chance.
Join Some New Online Casinos
While you are pushing outside of your comfort zone with casino games and tournaments, why not give yourself even more opportunities to get lucky by joining some new casinos as well?
With restrictions loosening on online gambling in the US in recent years, there are now more high quality casino sites than ever for US players to pick from.
That said, a lot of our favorite casinos are still the ones that have proven themselves with a long track record across many years.
Take a look at our reviews to find casinos that offer great game selections, fun promotions, and fast payouts.
Try Out A Different Type Of Gambling
Now let’s talk about going a little bit further outside of your comfort zone. If you only gamble at casinos right now, why not try something different?
You could buy a lottery ticket the next time you are at the store. Or maybe you could head over to the sportsbook section of the site where you play casino games, and try your hand at some sports bets.
When you try a new gambling activity, do so with an open mind, and see what you can learn from the experience.
We tend to get stuck in ruts with our thinking. The familiar contexts in which we are used to making our gambles start to act like walls hemming us in, directing us along the same narrow channels of behavior again and again.
When we switch to gambling in new contexts, those walls go away. We may see familiar concepts in a new light, or pathways we could take with our other gambling activities that we tend to overlook.
For instance, maybe while trying out sports betting for the first time, your sports analysis makes you realize that there are different ways you could analyze your poker hands. You then give some of those ideas a try, and end up winning.
Try A New Hobby Or Activity
Do it! Go fight that wave! You got this! (Just don’t tell anyone we said that!)
As we said earlier in this post, you never know where a stroke of luck will come from. And the more you mess with the context of your daily life and experiences, the more new windows of insight you can open.
Let’s imagine you are trying to play poker for a living, for example, and you have a hard time psychologically dealing with the uncertainties involved. You sometimes try too hard to stay in control, and then end up busting.
You decide to take up a new hobby. You were always kind of curious about surfing, but it is way outside of anything you would normally do.
You sign up for a few classes and give it a try. You struggle with that same urge to try and control everything, and fight the currents when you shouldn’t. Each time you do, you topple over.
Eventually your instructor explains to you that sometimes, that just does not work. A wave is a force of nature, and you cannot win a battle with a wave for control. You take that lesson to heart, and start working with the waves instead of against them. Now you can stay on your board much more effectively.
You realize that you have been making the equivalent mistake at the poker tables. In your battle for certainty and control, you have sometimes ended up going on tilt or playing hands you should have folded.
The next time you play poker, you find that it is easier for you to fold when you suspect an opponent is controlling the table. You end up sparing yourself from a lot of unnecessary losses. You also accept that uncertainty and luck are always part of the game, and you stop going on tilt.
You probably will feel very lucky that you learned these lessons and are now playing poker much more successfully.
But you created the opportunity for these lucky insights simply by stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying something new that was completely unrelated to gambling.
Visit New Places Online And Offline
Along with trying out different activities than you usually do, you can also consider getting around to some different places.
Do you always take the same route to and from work every day? Try switching it up. Plot a different route, and see what you discover.
You never know what amazing new experience you could have. Perhaps you spot a coffee shop you have never tried, and decide to step inside. There, you meet a fellow gambler, who gives you some amazing new strategies for your favorite games.
This advice applies in the virtual world too. You probably have routines for the sites you browse each day. Think about switching to browsing some different sites.
If you spend most of your time on Twitter, for instance, but rarely check Reddit, try hanging out on Reddit.
If you do use Reddit a lot, but always look at the same few subs, try visiting some subs you normally would not even think of checking out. You could learn something unexpected that completely changes how you approach gambling.
Take In New Multimedia
Do you tend to listen to the same music every day, or watch the same streaming shows, or read the same authors?
Maybe it is time to check out some different multimedia. Ironically, it is pretty easy to build a routine around this; you could resolve to watch one new film each week, or listen to one new artist each day.
The value of doing this is that it exposes you to numerous different life perspectives and approaches you would otherwise never encounter.
Something as simple as the lyrics in a song might cause you to re-evaluate something about how you approach your gambling.
Indeed, the multimedia to which we are drawn can shed some impressive insights into our psychologies, so this is a great way to delve deeper into yourself. Some of what you learn could just be the key to turning your luck around at the tables.
Also, make sure when you’re finished reading this to head over to Bovada and get your Welcome Bonus of $3,000 with the code CAWELCOME100!
Talk To New People
“… what? No, you don’t know me. I’m just dialing random numbers and trying to break out of my comfort zone. So, what are you doing?”
Who do you communicate with each day? Do you find you usually limit your conversations to your co-workers and close family and friends?
It is easy to fall into this habit, whether because of social anxiety or simply being too busy and fatigued to socialize more broadly.
But if you do not regularly talk to new people, you are isolating yourself from potentially life-changing encounters.
Here are some ideas for how you can talk to different people than you usually do:
- Attend more social events, and talk to people at those events you do not know
- Vary your route to and from work, or shop at different stores, and strike up brief conversations with strangers in these new locations
- Actively engage with strangers on social media sites and gambling forums
- Pick up the phone and call an old friend you haven’t spoken to in many years
Talking to new people can help you:
- Discover new games and casino sites you might never have found on your own
- Learn new strategies for playing casino games
- Get new ideas for how to manage your money or fund your bankroll
- Give you fresh perspective on your gambling psychology
As a bonus, sometimes you might even find yourself with a new friend! That would be very lucky indeed!
Ask Friends To Give You New Activities To Do
We have talked about how you should try out new hobbies and activities as part of your routine-breaking strategy.
But here’s the thing — if you are the one coming up with all of your activities and hobbies, you might still be constrained a bit. After all, even though you are trying new things, all of them came through the filtering system of your own mind.
One easy way to get around this issue is to try recruiting one or more friends into coming up with activity ideas for you.
Of course, not everyone will have the creativity to do this (or understand why you are asking). But if you can get someone onboard with it, it can work out really well. They may recommend things that you would never have considered in a thousand years on your own.
That means you may end up trying things that are totally out of character. This is a powerful way to stretch your mind in new directions and unlock brand new avenues for luck to find you.
Ask More Questions
As we have said, you may be surprised by the number of people that are willing to actually try to help!
Finally, how many questions do you typically ask people on any given day?
A lot of us were taught growing up that we should limit the questions we ask others, especially people we do not know well. We may have been told that we were “bothering” people with our questions, and needed to keep to ourselves.
That can turn into a really bad habit in adulthood. If you are stuck in a rut of not asking questions, it is time to break that routine permanently.
Do you happen to play video games? Here is an easy way to get yourself to ask more questions. Just pretend you are playing a game, and that whatever problem you are trying to solve is your quest. In a video game, you would probably pick every dialogue option related to that objective with every character you ran across until one of them pointed you in the right direction.
You can take this same basic approach in real life. Let’s say you are having a hard time with some aspect of gambling. Maybe you are struggling to grasp some aspect of probabilities, or you do not know the best approach to bluffing in poker, or you cannot seem to regulate your emotions. Or perhaps you are looking for a way to get an edge in tournaments, or a better way to manage your bankroll.
When you find yourself surrounded by other gamblers, engage them in conversation. Ask them what approach they would take to solving your gambling-related problems, or if they can explain a concept you are having a hard time with.
It might surprise you just how willing a lot of people are to offer help. Many people enjoy hearing themselves speak, especially about topics they are knowledgeable about. They also appreciate it when someone recognizes their expertise. So, there is no reason to hold back in asking for help. The next gambler you talk to could be the one who gives you the trick or secret you need to take your poker, slots or blackjack game to the next level.
Tips for Success Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone
Here are a few tips that will help you when you first start trying new things to increase your luck:
- Build it into your routine
- Get used to feeling uncomfortable
- Give it time
Inertia can hold you back when you are trying to gin yourself up to do new things. So, make a commitment to doing it, and put it on a schedule. Ironically, incorporating it into your existing routine will help you feel more confident getting outside of your comfort zone. But within those chunks of time you set aside in you schedule for it, you will be leaving routine and familiarity behind.
Doing things outside of what you are used to can feel awkward, anxiety-inducing, or simply like a lot of work. You will need to be okay with sitting with those feelings if you want to succeed at leaving your comfort zone. This is actually a bonus for gamblers, however; just by training yourself to be okay with uneasy feelings, you will be developing the skills you need to not go on tilt the next time you are feeling frustrated, fearful or angry during a losing streak.
The first few times you leave your comfort zone, you may find it quite difficult. But after you do it for months on end, it will begin to feel more natural and less anxiety-inducing. Plus, by then, you may start experiencing some moments of unexpected luck. Those payoffs will give you the motivation to keep exploring outside your comfort zone and reaping the rewards that follow.
Break Out of Your Routine to Find Your Way Into Luck
As human beings, we tend to set up routines because they help us reduce the daily uncertainties of our lives. They keep outcomes more predictable.
But that means that our routines don’t just protect us; they also limit us. They reduce our exposure to situations that could result in unpredictable fortune — in other words, luck.
Try putting some of the routine-breaking ideas in this post into practice in your everyday life. It may feel forced or unnatural at first, and you might wonder if you are wasting your time.
But once you start having new and unexpected fortuitous experiences, you will see just how much luck breaking out of your comfort zone can bring into your life as a gambler.
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