Luck.....

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Does it just happen to you good or bad or do you work hard at making your own good luck?

What are your stories?

[recycled sixtie]

I really believe that luck is part of it but if you rely on luck too much it can be your undoing. PM sent.
Guy.

[LeeH]

Interesting timing. I was just reading this article a few minutes before I saw this post.

"Several years ago, the psychologist Richard Wiseman recruited subjects who thought of themselves as either unusually lucky or unlucky. The self-described lucky ones, he discovered, shared a set of behavioral traits that maximized their good fortune. They were receptive to new experiences and invested time in expanding their social and professional networks; when things went wrong, they reminded themselves that things could have gone worse. By focusing less on their goals, they actually accomplished those goals more efficiently." Source:How to (Truly) Improve Your Luck | Mental Floss

I'm currently sending out my resume to places I'd like to work, updating my LinkedIn profile, contacting business owners/decision makers in my network, digging through employment ads on Craigslist, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, etc. I predict it won't take too long for me to be lucky enough to find a new job.

[HardDrive]

Absolutely random events happen, and some people get the short end of the stick, no question. But how you position yourself in life and your ability to be adaptable and resilient often leads to positive outcomes that one could construe as 'luck'.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

The luck I have is proof that God exists. Pure, unadulterated, just happens to you, luck. It's consistency that's the proof.

[GH85Carrera]

It depends on the type of luck.

I am super lucky in that I was born in the USA, to wonderful parents that loved me, taught me work ethics and gave me a great moral compass. I always knew I had a warm bed to sleep in and food in in the house.

I am lucky I finally found my wife 24 years ago.

I have had great luck with health.

I made some luck with hard work and I have a good job and zero debts.

When it comes to random luck like winning a door prize at meetings or events I have no luck at all. My wife and I went to a club meeting that had door prizes after the meeting had 14 people at a dinner meeting and 12 prizes. The two non winners were my wife an myself. I have been to 15 Porsche Parades. At every meal they have door prizes. So far I have won a child's size t-shirt and I don't have kids.

[motion]

This is pretty simple, really.

Things happen to you, whether good, neutral or just plain bad.

If you live your life a certain way and are guided by core values that place you in *positive* environments, then I truly believe that when things happen, they will be generally good. At least, more good than bad. You can then say that you are a lucky person

If you go to Tijuana this weekend and hang out at 3AM in a drug infested neighborhood, I think you're going to have some pretty bad luck.

If you fly to Monaco during the F1 weekend and stay at the casino hotel and watch the race while sipping bubbly, I think you're going to have pretty good luck.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

The luck I have is proof that God exists. Pure, unadulterated, just happens to you, luck. It's consistency that's the proof.

Pretty much this.

[masraum]

I'm not rich compared to some of the folks on this board. I'm not powerful. I don't have women beating down my door or following me around town.

I definitely consider myself lucky (good) or feel like I lead a charmed life. I think it's about attitude. Whether it's that I tend to view things in a positive way when they happen, or my attitude means that I create my own opportunities or make the most of opportunities when they come or because I've got an angel on my shoulder, I don't know. It's probably a combination of all of the above.

In almost all instances, I can have something happen that seems or would usually be considered bad, and usually whether it's an hour or a week or 6 months later, I can look back and see how that lead me to something that ended up being an improvement in my situation or to my benefit.

Yeah, I'm lucky.

[wdfifteen]

I've been incredibly lucky. Born white and straight in the USA with all systems working, above average intelligence, working class parents who knew the value of work, education, and money and taught it to me. I was in the right place at the right time to get a "car guy's" dream job in engineering at GM, also in the right place to move up to a rocket scientist job at WPAFB. I was also born with an innate restlessness that made me uncomfortable working for "the man" which sent me into the world to make my fortune as an entrepreneur.
I worked hard to be ready for opportunities, but I was lucky that they came along.

[aigel]

I don't believe in luck. It is random. Some of it you can influence by putting yourself in the right environment.

I.e. professional life - I work at startups. Maybe I will get lucky one day and land a big buy out / IPO. If I would have stayed in my "safe job", I would not be in a position to be "lucky". Of course I would also not be unemployed as quickly.

I notice that sometimes bad events pile up - almost like there is a correlation - but it is just like rolling the same number 3 times in a row throwing dice. It happens ...

There are also people where it piles up. Sometimes it is just statistics, but often it is also poor choices, putting them into the wrong environment, where chances are higher that 'bad luck' hits them. Someone without a savings account is more likely to go broke than someone that had the discipline to save ...

G

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I worked hard to be ready for opportunities, but I was lucky that they came along.

Gold.

[dtw]

I think a lot of it boils down to perspective. Perfect example tonight:

I'm coming into town on worst possible conditions on the Interstate. Rain, setting sun, construction, Friday evening traffic, and disabled vehicles and wrecks seemingly every quarter mile. Just an absolute mess. I joined the ranks of disabled vehicles with a flat tire and no compressor for my collapsible spare. Ooops. I must have missed that in the PPI (that I did myself, nobody to blame but me).

So there I am, wearing my blue suit and new shoes getting soaked, when a good friend happens to pass by, and sees me on the side of the road. He calls me up, then offers to loop around and pick me up to take me to fill up my spare tire with air, then comes back to hold my flashlight as the sun is now fully set upon our return.

I had been on the way into town to catch dinner and a movie with my family. Missed dinner, but comfortably made the movie (non-refundable tickets for Star Wars @ IMAX). After the movie, we stopped at a place up the street and my folks bought me dinner as I was really hungry by that point.

When the evening was over (just about 5 minutes before reading this thread), I mentioned what a great night it had been. Another person said yeah, except having it ruined by the rotten luck/timing with that tire. I said oh, I was thinking just the opposite - how lucky it was that it happened while my daughter was not in the car, and that my friend happened along and totally saved my evening.

Glass half full, glass half empty - seems like sometimes it just depends on how you choose to see yourself and your circumstances.

[Scuba Steve]

I thought I wasn't terribly lucky (or unlucky) but reading this thread has changed how I see things a bit. Guess maybe I am a bit on the lucky side after all.

[robertocravallo]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

The luck I have is proof that God exists. Pure, unadulterated, just happens to you, luck. It's consistency that's the proof.

Why is this God person responsible for your luck? Isn't that the same character that gave us cancer, tidal waves and other goodies?

So maybe you are just a "half full" type person with a positiv outlook.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I worked hard to be ready for opportunities, but I was lucky that they came along.

I like it. A favorite saying of mine - "the harder I work, the luckier I get".

I would attribute much of my success to hard work. But there are things that just happened, things that have shaped my life that I honestly did not influence. Meeting my wife 15 years ago, having three healthy kids, being born into a great working class family. All of these are simply the hand that I was dealt, thank God its been a good one.

[sc_rufctr]

How lucky are we? ... Most of us will die of old age.

That wasn't true a hundred years ago. We made that "luck".

The rest is probability.

[KFC911]

Woe, despair and agony on me...whoaaa

Don't know how to type that last word though . Hee-Haw!!!

We ALL are some lucky birds IMO...some more so than others...it's all about the journey and what you make of those nasty curve balls and sliders, but WE have bats

[tabs]

I was just thinking about my own position about being "lucky." The thought came into my mind that the glass is half full but it could be worse it could be completely empty. So I think that I am not happy and don't think I am lucky if the glass is only half full. I want it completely full all the time.

But that is not a reasonable position as Mother tells me. So what separates the men from the boyz is ones ability to pick themselves up in the midst of despair. To keep on taking that next step and never settling for less than being one with the self and having peace of mind.

To that end I have achieved that goal beyond my wildest dreams. The synapses in my head fire so fast and with such clarity and definition it like taking a hit of pure snow. Snap, I can just see it for what it is with out any plus or minus biases. It is simply the integration of emotion and intellect into the realized self which leads to the next step of the spiritual transcendence. I am free, the walls of the box have fallen away and all there is, is open space as far as the eye can see. In the abstract everything is spatial much like the geometry of playing Pool or the intricate workings of a Swiss watch with multiple complexities. But there is also the depths of a huge sense of loss of all the people and pets that I have loved so much. That Pathos tempers everything and leads to the collective memory and an understanding of those elusive "animal spirits" of emotion. I can now say it, I have become the wise old man of the dream, but I still have the sword of the hero in my hand.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by tabs

I was just thinking about my own position about being "lucky." The thought came into my mind that the glass is half full but it could be worse it could be completely empty. So I think that I am not happy and don't think I am lucky if the glass is only half full. I want it completely full all the time.

But that is not a reasonable position as Mother tells me. So what separates the men from the boyz is ones ability to pick themselves up in the midst of despair. To keep on taking that next step and never settling for less than being one with the self and having peace of mind.

To that end I have achieved that goal beyond my wildest dreams. The synapses in my head fire so fast and with such clarity and definition it like taking a hit of pure snow. Snap, I can just see it for what it is with out any plus or minus biases. It is simply the integration of emotion and intellect into the realized self which leads to the next step of the spiritual transcendence. I am free, the walls of the box have fallen away and all there is, is open space as far as the eye can see. In the abstract everything is spatial much like the geometry of playing Pool or the intricate workings of a Swiss watch with multiple complexities. But there is also the depths of a huge sense of loss of all the people and pets that I have loved so much. That Pathos tempers everything and leads to the collective memory and an understanding of those elusive "animal spirits" of emotion. I can now say it, I have become the wise old man of the dream, but I still have the sword of the hero in my hand.

Well said Tabs