One of my favorite interview questions to ask candidates is “On a scale of 1 to 10, how lucky would you say you are?” I love this one because of the scalable number, and the array of reactions people give about their answer.

The number can reveal a lot about someone. There’s no wrong answer to this one, but the person who very quickly answers “10!” followed by a list of family and friends and health records, is usually a very different candidate overall than the person that says “Pretty average..a 5 I guess.” It helps to give me a glimpse into that person’s optimism, enthusiasm, and outlook.

But it’s the explanation that comes after the number that really counts. Some of my favorite answers have been things like “2. I’m not a very lucky person at all, but I don’t use that as a scapegoat for my outcomes”

Some other popular answers:

“I don’t believe in luck; I’m blessed”

“I don’t gamble so I don’t know” or oppositely so “I suck at roulette”

“Can’t complain"

So whether you believe in luck or fate or neither, and whether you’d give yourself a 2 or a 10 on the scale, it’s your reasoning and opinion behind it that matters most. When it comes to my opinion, I like to refer to this cool quote: 

A few hours of backroads driving and everything starts to look the same. I was on my own searching, for what I was not quite sure: adventure, fun, solitude?

Winding through these opens roads gave me ample time to think about my reasons. Not just for why I was out here in the middle of nowhere but, why I did anything.

I guess that is why many of us seek these wild places to find something, to find ourselves. Bumping around in my little truck I am not sure if I found myself but, I did realize something: I love stories. I realized that all I wanted to be was an old man with good stories.

I often find myself lost and grossly ill prepared. I am not sure if this makes me an awesome adventurer or a terrible one; either way, it makes for great stories.

So Dive into life and find your stories.

P.S. Happy Valentines Day!

Morning! For those that don’t know, I was able to attend the Wearable Technologies Europe Conference in Munich last week on behalf of SlideBelts.

The talks at the conference consisted of product announcements, comments on the wearable market, ideas about how fitness tracker data could be more efficiently utilized, and so on. Of course, Pokemon GO also made multiple appearances.

One part of the conference was dedicated to the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup where the approximately 24 finalists had a chance to give a 3-minute elevator speech before the winners of each category of the competition were announced. It was super interesting to see what these teams and businesses have developed. The products ranged from noise cancelling earbuds to underwater communication devices for divers. But no matter what or how well executed the product was, speaking with the inventors and CEOs was intriguing. They were so eager to tell people about their product, and it showed how genuinely proud and passionate they were about it.

As we forge forward into this developing market, let’s stay excited. Motivated. Inquisitive. There is so much out there, but also so much to be discovered.

And don’t worry - although I was just there to do some recon, take notes, snap pics, and so on, I had a SlideBelt in my bag and regularly had the opportunity to pull it out and show it off ;)