[00:00:00] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: If you are not getting opportunities, it's off. Not because you are underqualified, it's because you are underexposed. Over time, people say you are everywhere. You're so lucky. You always get these chances. I want you to tell the story how we met from start to finish. Take us back to the night we met. 

[00:00:20] Josh Heptig: You want me to share everything?

[00:00:21] You don't wanna keep a few things to ourselves. 

[00:00:24] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: I love that. Come back to the club. Hi, and welcome back to the Happy, healthy Hustle. I'm your host, Dr. Christiana. Today's episode is about something that changed my life 26 years ago. An ordinary moment that I didn't ignore that moment led me to meet my husband.

[00:00:48] People often call stories like this, luck. But when I look back, it wasn't luck. It was visibility, courage, and follow through. In this episode, I share the story of [00:01:00] how we met and why the opportunities that change your life. Usually start small in moments that are easy to overlook. If this resonates with you, share this episode with someone who might need the reminder to say yes to a small opportunity and make sure to follow the podcast.

[00:01:19] You don't miss what's next. Today's conversation is about luck, not the fairy dust version, not some people just have it. I mean, the kind of luck that changes your career, your relationships, your entire trajectory, and looks random from the outside. Because what people call luck is often just a moment. You didn't ignore a conversation, you didn't avoid a door you walked through before you felt ready.

[00:01:48] And I went to make this really human, not theoretical. So I brought Josh on. Josh Haptic is my husband and our entire life together started with one [00:02:00] ordinary night that could have passed like nothing except it didn't. Josh, I want you to tell the story how we met from start to finish. Take us back to the night we met where we were.

[00:02:12] What did you notice first and what happened all the way to the end of the night? 

[00:02:18] Josh Heptig: You want me to share everything? You don't wanna keep a few things to ourselves. Okay. Well imagine this. So I had been out with some of my buddies at a seventies party dressed in a baby blue laser suit, big Afro gold chains.

[00:02:32] And we were hanging out at a bar after the party and I found myself kind of staring off onto the dance floor. And one of my friends comes over and taps me on the shoulder and says, what are you looking at out there? And I said, I guess I'm looking at that cute blonde lady out there. So he said, well, you better go out there and ask her to dance before I do.

[00:02:48] And so I finished up my drink, got some liquid courage, went out to the dance floor. Asked her if she wanted to dance, she said yes. And then after, I don't know how long it was, we were dancing, [00:03:00] um, I asked if she wanted to drink. So we headed back to the bar, grabbed a drink, and as we were heading back onto the dance floor, another gentleman that I knew, or or a student that I knew, bumped on the back of me, pushed my arm and my drink.

[00:03:12] I went all the way, all over the back of Christiana. So she ran off, grabbed her friend from the dance floor and headed to the bathroom. And I thought, well, I guess that's the end of that evening. So I went back with my group of buddies. Back towards the back of the bar and was telling 'em the story of everything that happened on, and then all of a sudden I feel a tap on the back of my shoulder.

[00:03:28] And who to know? It was Christiana and her friend, she said, you owe me a drink and another dance. So we danced the rest of the night away and at the end of the night. She wrote her hand or her phone number on the palm of my hand, and I went home carefully trying not to let that get smudged or anything else.

[00:03:43] And so the next morning, or when I got back to my apartment, actually I wrote that number down on a piece of paper and the next morning I called her and asked if she wanted to go for another date. And as they say, the rest is history. 

[00:03:53] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Beautiful. I love how you always tell this story. People will hear that and call it luck, [00:04:00] but here's what I hear, it's a chain of small moves.

[00:04:03] A decision to approach, a decision to stay in the moment, a decision to try again after something awkward, a decision to follow through, and that's the part that people miss. They only see the outcome. Now, let's zoom out because this isn't just about how we met. This is how opportunities work. We like to believe opportunities go to the most qualified person, the smartest, the most prepared, the most deserving.

[00:04:34] But humans don't choose like spreadsheets. They choose like brains because brains prefer what feels familiar, and that's why the same names keep coming up. The same people get invited. The same people get referred, not always because they are better. Because their name is easier to recall. That's what people [00:05:00] call luck, but it's actually recognition.

[00:05:03] So if you replay that night and you don't come over or I don't come back, what do you honestly think happens in the other timeline? 

[00:05:16] Josh Heptig: Well, we've talked about this a lot of times and I, you know, I believe that if. Love or our connection were a true thing that was supposed to happen is we probably would've met one another later down the line.

[00:05:28] The other element of it could have been is, you know, I know that, that if it hadn't, or if I hadn't, uh, acted, I would've sought out to try to find you on another Saturday evening in the future to see if you come back to the club. 

[00:05:41] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: I love that. Come back to the club. And that's exactly the point. Most life changing things don't begin as life changing.

[00:05:50] They begin as ordinary, and this is the uncomfortable truth that's also incredibly freeing. If you are not getting opportunities, [00:06:00] it's often not because you are underqualified. It's because you are underexposed, because no decision maker sits there thinking, Hmm, who is the most talented person I've never heard from?

[00:06:13] They think, who do I already know that could do this? That's not cruel, that's efficiency. That's cognitive reason. The brain does this. It prefers what it's already seen before. So luck often goes to the person who's mentally available when a decision gets made. When you think of who gets invited into rooms, who gets referred, who gets the call?

[00:06:40] What makes a person come to mind fast? 

[00:06:44] Josh Heptig: Well, I manage golf courses and obviously as an employer, um, it's not oftentimes it's a person that sends the best resume or that gets the best resume. 'cause oftentimes, you know, a lot of those end up just in the round file, in the garbage. Um, it's really the person that's persistent, the person that keeps coming back, the [00:07:00] person that keeps showing up and asking, Hey, is there a job available or is there anything else?

[00:07:04] Anything that I can do to, to help increase my chances? So, you know, it's not too different when you're off to the bars and going to the clubs to try and find ladies. It's, it's, the more you ask, the more often you're gonna get an opportunity. So 

[00:07:15] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: I love that that's recognition. And recognition alone isn't enough because plenty of people are seen once.

[00:07:23] And then forgotten. The second piece is motion. People who look lucky don't wait until they feel confident. Yeah, they don't wait until the timing feels perfect. They don't wait until everything is clear. They act while it's still unclear. They send the message, they raise the hand, they follow up. From the outside, it looks like confidence, but actually from the inside, it's just motion.

[00:07:52] And that motion creates visibility. Visibility creates familiarity and familiarity creates [00:08:00] opportunity. That is why luck compounds each small action increases the chance you'll be remembered. Each interaction makes the next one easier. Each follow up strengthens recognition over time. People say you are everywhere.

[00:08:18] You are so lucky. You always get these chances. But what they really are seeing is momentum. And here's the practical part. Luck isn't something you wait for. It's something you practice. One small one, email, one conversation, one. Follow up, one room. You don't need to be louder and you don't need to be perfect.

[00:08:45] In fact, you just need to be present. So when you are thinking about this, if someone is watching and feels like they're doing great work, but they are invisible, what's one move they could make this week that would actually [00:09:00] change their odds? 

[00:09:02] Josh Heptig: Just reach out, make an inquiry, talk to somebody and figure out, you know, whatever it is you're trying to do is, is.

[00:09:09] Just put yourself out there. The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities that that will come to you over time. 

[00:09:15] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Well, that's actually really beautiful, putting yourself out there and not always being ready because here's the simplest practice I can give you for the next seven days. Do one presence rep a.

[00:09:29] One message you have been overthinking one follow up. You keep postponing one contribution. You are ready to make one room. You enter on purpose. Because opportunities don't go to the best kept secret, they go to the most cognitively available option. The person whose name comes to mind fastest, that's not charisma.

[00:09:53] That's not confidence. In fact, that's exposure plus action repeated [00:10:00] over time. If this changed how you think about luck, here are more conversations like this one on the channel. Go back and watch the earlier episodes they built on each other. And if you want to keep thinking this way, subscribe to our channel because luck isn't random.

[00:10:17] It is built. See you in the next episode.