You are so lucky!! - Yes, I've been working on this since I was a child.
Beginner's luck
As with the previous reflections, I aim to understand better what certain words mean and what they hide behind the scenes. Today, let's focus on luck: the four-leaf clover, the horseshoe, the albatross, or even acorns, for others.
Usually, I prefer to remove any intangible items from a conversation. It doesn't help me think of them, nor does it influence the result behind the scenes - so less energy is spent in the wrong places. But there are things that people attribute to luck, and I want to understand what those are. Whenever industries are created on concepts like this, there is always something to learn from them.
Year over year, the market size of companies leveraging luck is increasing. Whether government-owned (lotteries) or privately owned (casinos, gambling sites), it's impressive how steady their growth is. It's hard to believe that these companies are "just lucky" consistently for a significant amount of time - they might be doing something different. I'm not interested in becoming better at Alea-based (chance) games, so let's focus on what we can do to become more "lucky" as an individual.
A stroke of luck
So why do we want luck? Why do we have specific actions that would improve or maintain our luck - the so-called rituals? Why are we afraid of a black cat, or why do we want lucky charms on our person? We care about it because we want to leverage luck to have a sense of agency in a generally uncertain and uncontrollable aspect of life. With it, we can influence our next set of cards being dealt, the following resources we receive, improving our lives.
Some observations from me about luck:
- For me, it's better to try and learn the rules of the universe than assume there is a higher entity that can influence my luck. I should be in control.
- My ego often influences my thinking. "That was pure luck; he didn't deserve it." or "He failed; if only he were more prepared." Winning is far more plausible than losing.
- I am more lucky playing games I've mastered than playing for the first time.
- I get closer to my goals when I'm not keeping all my eggs in one basket. It seems like luck increases gradually with multiple opportunities.
- We generally fall into two categories: those who accept and expect luck and the others who reject the notion entirely. It is hard to believe people are in the middle - whether we interact and influence it or not is a binary decision.
- We generally aren't good at understanding randomness. We can be conditioned with much work via feedback to generate results indistinguishable from true randomness.
Don't push your luck
And I've seen luck present itself when influenced in some ways:
- Some luck is pure; it's accidental. It comes even though we don't do anything to influence its apparition.
- Some luck is influenced by motion. Being the person always starting something, being present at events, and so on generates motion around you. And with more motion, more chaos can ensue, and more opportunities present themselves. Stay curious and act!
- Some luck is influenced by being perceptive and insightful of hidden opportunities. Being the right person at the right time. See what others don't; leverage it moving forward!
- Some luck is influenced by your context. Investing time in activities outside your comfort zone teaches you different angles and creative ways to solve problems. Curate the box you live in to enable you to think outside it. Try to move left and right, not just forward and backward.
