The current issue of Newsweek (cover-dated 02 February 2009) has a fantastic article from Ben Sherwood entitled “What It Takes to Survive”. Ostensibly, this piece is about how people handle crises. Why do some people panic, some people lead — and most people stand around in a daze?
This larger topic is fascinating, of course, but even more interesting is the article’s sub-theme: some people are lucky and some are not. But what we think of as “luck” has almost nothing to do with randomness and everything to do with attitude. According to Richard Wiseman, a professor in the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in Britain, only about 10% of life is purely random; the remaining 90% is defined by the way we think. Our attitudes produce our luck.
From the Newsweek article:
“Luck is not a magical ability or a gift from the gods,” Wiseman writes. “Instead, it is a state of mind—a way of thinking and behaving.” Above all, he insists that we have far more control over our lives — and our luck — than we realize.
This echoes almost exactly the sentiments in the book Luck is No Accident, which I reviewed last year. In that slim volume, the authors write:
You have control over your own actions and how you think about the events that impact your life. None us can control the outcomes, but your actions can increase the probability that desired outcomes will occur. There are no guarantees in life. The only guarantee is that doing nothing will get you nowhere.
I’ve certainly found this to be true in my own life. When I sit around and moan about my misfortunes, more misfortunes seem to come my way. But when I attempt to learn from my mistakes, or from the bad things that happen to me, when I take action instead of remaining passive, even bad luck can be turned to good.
In the Newsweek article, Professor Wiseman suggests four reasons that luck favors certain people:
- Lucky people frequently happen upon chance opportunities. But this is more than just being in the right place at the right time. “Lucky” people also have to be aware or the opportunity, and have the courage to seize it.
- Lucky people listen to their hunches. In other words, they listen to their gut instinct. This reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, which argues that often our first instincts are correct.
- Lucky people persevere in the face of failure. You’ve all seen that Nike commercial from Michael Jordan, right? “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
- Lucky people have the ability to turn bad luck into good fortune. The past couple of weeks have been pretty shitty for me. They’ve sucked. It would be easy to surrender and just give up. Instead, I’ve tried to find the positive, and to build something constructive out of my experience. Instead of focusing on the loss of a close friend, I think, “What can I take from this?” As I wrote and delivered my eulogy, for example, I tried to learn more about speaking in public. (My second eulogy at tonight’s memorial service should be even better.)
I encourage you to read the entire Newsweek article. It’s well worth your time. And it may prove to be the luckiest thing you do all day!
Photo by cimarroncat.
This article is about Psychology, Self-Improvement
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Lottery… Let’s see. I put $5 a month into Powerball tickets for 20 years – that’s $1,200 spent for 1,200 tickets. According to Justlottery.com, I have hit the odds for 1.5 ’3 Matched’, we’ll say twice, for $14 paid out. Probably haven’t hit the 1 in 195 million chance for Grand Prize.
Or that same $5 invested at 4% over 20 years turns into $1,839.99.
I’d say I made my own luck by not buying into the ‘I need to win the lottery to get rich’ mentality, and not buying lottery tickets…
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@ JD Comment #29
But you DID have a role in getting rear-ended. You couldn’t have been rear-ended if you had not been driving. You know that it is dangerous to drive, and you chose to take that risk. There are many things that can be done to reduce that risk: batch errands, order online, ride the bus (risky, but less so). You created the OPPORTUNITY for that bad luck to happen to you. It would be less likely to happen to someone that doesn’t drive. (And, yes, other things could happen to that person. But that is a different set of risk/reward. To the bus rider whose bus gets hijacked, the same rules apply).
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Actually, at the level Erica (#21) is talking about, J.D. is 100% responsible for the accident. This is a level of spirituality, not what we normally consider reality. At that level, some dissatisfaction of J.D.’s (that Cooper) invited the world around him to help get rid of his current car, thus allowing him to move forward to what he truly wants. In fact, I’ve been waiting to hear him mention an accident since I caught the running theme of the Cooper.
It’s your choice what to believe, but there certainly are levels of reality that we can’t perceive. UV light for instance – you can’t see it, but it can give you a burn nonetheless. Okay, bad example in Oregon… As one friend asks me – if you don’t believe what you can’t see, why do you pay your electricity bill?
I think I’ll continue these musing on my site and not distract from this topic any further…
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As interesting as the conversation about luck is, I think it is also important to get specific and look at it in terms of “getting rich slowly”. Part of getting rich slowly is being financially prepared for both bad luck and good luck (hence forth referred to as ‘chance’ to disassociate from preparedness).
This ties back to a post a couple weeks back about emergency accounts and where/how to keep that money ready. If you keep a credit account rather than cash for an emergency account you are more exposed to the chance of both having an emergency and the credit account closed at the same time.
On the flip side if you have the chance to take two steps forward by taking one step back (like starting a business or taking a lower paying job with a start up) financial solvency gives you the opportunity to take time off or take a pay cut.
In both of these instances the chance could lead to your bad luck being reduced and good luck enhanced by your financial preparation by following the principals of GRS.
On another note I would like to point out how open to interpretation a person’s *fault* is in a situation. Des pointed out how when one is the victim of an accident one has a responsibility for being in that place at that time. Just because one didn’t KNOW what the outcome would be of an action doesn’t absolve one of the responsibility for that action. At the same time you can’t hold the victim just as responsible as the perpetrator if there was no reasonable way to foresee the outcome.
It is the law of unintended consequences and reminds me of a Thomas Sowell quote I keep in my office: “Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm–but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
I think that applies for harm to ourselves as well as harm we do to others. We want to absolve ourselves of blame of bad and grant ourselves credit for the good.
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Wow #21 Erica…good luck with that. Umm…I guess you are an atheist also. We are responsible for our actions, however they are planned and supervised by a higher power. I’m not trying to convert you, but no insurance?? That is extremely risky and I hope you don’t have that attitude with your kids (if you have any).
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Which is it?
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I agree JD…but what about the people with the good attitude that still get clobbered. We all know that happens too. My sense is that, like anything, its not all or nothing. My experience tells me that we do have to learn to make lemonade out of lemons. Attitude is great but not a cure all.
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I may not have been clear: I’m not saying it’s all or nothing. I’m well aware that many people get dealt crappy hands that they cannot overcome. For most of us, though, our attitude plays a greater role than our circumstances. Not all of us, but most of us. For some, fate is fickle friend. For others, she brings unexpected (and, possibly, undeserved) fortune. But for most of us, our destiny is in our own hands.
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bill gates once said that the biggest contribution to his success was luck.
knowing the history of bill gates and microsoft, i totally agree with bill gates’ statement.
luck do play a large part in our lives.
i am 5’8 and although i want to play pro basket ball like kobe bryant. there is no way i can be kobe bryant even if i practice 16 hours a day.
we do have control over our life but dismissing luck totally is just simply foolish.
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@rubin
The point is that with the bad luck that you could never play pro-ball some people quit. Obviously you can’t be happy or successful if you can’t play pro-ball, right? So bad luck has condemned you to a life empty of money and full of misery. Some people think that way, or at least hint at it. Why try if luck is against you? When *luck* closes a door do you stare at the closed door or find an open window?
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by the way, dos which made microsoft successful was purchased by bill gates from 2 guys in seatle. these 2 guys in turn copy dos from dr dos which was originally developed in california.
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JD, did you ever think this topic would start a commentroversy? There seem to be people on both sides who are having a very visceral reaction to the article summary you presented.
I read the whole article and think it was great idea to link it from GRS. I am firmly in the camp of “prepare for opportunity,” and also in favor of using bad events, bad decisions, or bad circumstances as learning experiences.
It is always interesting to drop in here! Maybe you should give your readers an assignment … something along the lines of, list five “good” and five “bad” things that have happened in your life (event, decision, circumstance) and describe your reaction and the consequences. Some of the reactions in the comment cloud today are very revealing.
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I think that attitude does play a role in how we perceive luck- if I am having a good week I am more inclined to be aware of and remember “lucky” occurances- arriving at the bus stop at the perfect time, the rain starting only as I get in my front door.
If however I am feeling like the heavens already have it in for me I notice the spilt tea, or remember the driver that cuts in front.
Another example- I have a chronic medical condition which requires a fair number of prescriptions and rather unpleasant, invasive investigations every few years- am I unlucky to have this condition, or lucky that I don’t have something worse? It really depends on the type of day I am having.
Although I see that according to Erica @ 21 I brought this all on myself!
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I hold with the idea: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
This means several things for me:
1) Knowing what opportunities you are looking for. I’m on my annual “So, what kind of work would be a better fit for me” quest. I think too many people never step back and figure out what they really want. If you don’t know, then how will you spot an opportunity when it bites you?
2) Being prepared to take calculated risks to achieve success. Be financially sound. Practice your craft. Meet people who can help you and vice-versa. Learn all you can.
3) Being prepared to succeed at the new opportunity. Practice if you can, talk to mentors, learn all you can.
4) Being willing to fail (or at least, make some big mistakes), then learn from the failures to do better next time.
5) Repeat.
Too many people aren’t willing to do the preparation, set themselves up financially, risk failures, and just plain work hard. Those are the people who tend to use “luck” as an excuse for what they settled for.
Yeah, I’m lucky (US-born, white, middle-class, well-educated, healthy, etc), but I could easily have ended up in a far less fulfilling place, had I not taken a number of risks.
And seriously, I tend to regret the opportunities I didn’t take because of fear and “bad timing”, instead of the ones I took and didn’t succeed at.
And JD — I get what you meant about taking something productive out of Sparky’s death. When my aunt died of cancer and I flew 2000 miles to attend her funeral, I took the opportunity to meet my new nephew. I called that “making lemonade” out of the bitter/sour situation. Sparky sounds like the kind of person who would cheer you on.
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I believe that there is no such thing as luck. You must know what it is that you want to do and when an oppurtunity appears you must be prepared to not only open that door but also walk through that door with an abundance of confidence in your ability.
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Luck: an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
It is, by definition, not something you make yourself. If it’s predictable, it’s not luck.
Let me give you three scenarios as an example:
1) The captain of a ship runs aground on a shallow spot marked on his chart. The shallow spot happens to be sandy, and no damage results to his ship. At high tide, he floats off the bottom and sails away.
2) The captain of a ship runs aground on a shallow spot marked on his chart. The shallow spot is sharp rocks, they puncture his hull, and his ship sinks.
3) The captain of a ship reads his charts ahead of time, and goes around the shallow spot. He never runs aground.
Now, based on the way I use the word “luck”, the first captain was a lousy captain but lucky. The second captain was a lousy captain but unlucky. The third captain Was a good captain, and as a result we don’t know if he’s lucky or not, because he didn’t test his luck.
I don’t know how other people use the word “luck”, but I use it to mean “a measure of the favorability of the outcome of a random event”.
I don’t believe that people are in general lucky or unlucky, but individual events will have lucky or unlucky outcomes.
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“Illnesses and deaths aren’t [an accident], either.”
Gosh, Erica, what a horrible thing to say. I’m sure the lady I know with MS invited the loss of control over her body and the rapidly oncoming loss of her dignity somehow. And those people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in their 40s and die after horrible suffering in less than a year? Clearly they should have worked harder on being…non-cancery. Really, you should try telling that to their faces. I’m sure they’d appreciate your wisdom.
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J.D.–If I recall, you said you didn’t believe in The Secret a while back. Just wanted to point out that these are the same concepts. How we approach our lives drastically impacts what happens in them. I think almost everyone can agree on that.
Shirley
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Shirly: not the same concepts. The Secret is all about believing stuff will happen, and if you believe hard enough it will. The Secret has people saying, “I just thought about checks coming in the mail — and they did!” It also has people saying, “The victims of the Holocaust somehow willed it upon themselves.” I find both statements ludicrous.
There are external forces that we cannot control. But I believe that by maintaining a positive attitude, and by making the best of your situation — taking real action on your beliefs, not just sending your thoughts out to some cosmic vibration — you can create your own luck…
Also, for those debating the definition of luck: I’m not a big believer in the traditional concept of luck, which is probably why my use of the word is so nebulous. Sorry.
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Late to the party, here, but all of this was summed up most succinctly and elegantly by Louis Pasteur more than 100 yrs ago: “Chance favors the prepared mind”
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J.D.–Don’t want to get into a big debate, but the folks who speak on The Secret apeak about taking action, not just wishing. But, one has to be able to believe good things can happen first (e.g., Obama’s, “Yes, We Can.”) I can’t even begin to defend anyone who says things like that about the Holocaust victims bringing it upon themselves. However, I do believe in a lesser way that when we take on a victim mentality we attract more of that type of thing. But back to the basics, most people don’t just get motivated or take an action and things start happening. They think positive, they take an action, they see results and the cycle repeats. When you became debt free over time, imagining and believing it was going to happen had to be a big part of the equation. That’s all I am saying.
Shirley
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Yeah I don’t see this and The Secre being in the same vein.
I was just thinking about this stuff as I reflected on my current job. I wanted to get into advertising for the longest time (couple of years) and it just wasn’t happening. Then I got this job as a “financial blogger.” Which, OK, it was better than the job I had before.
Then that magically morphed into a agency-ish job. As soon as I saw that possibility I went after that little bit of daylight hard and here I am. Doing advertising.
Lucky, lucky, lucky. But I was also ready.
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So how to explain Luck with Lottery ?
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Luck is only what you preceive it to be.
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They’ll do it every time the economy goes south. It’s not the state of the economy, we’re told, it’s not one’s location, one’s life circumstances or just plain random chance. It’s YOUR attitude. It’s YOUR willingness to WORK HARD. And if you fail, it’s YOUR OWN FAULT. And remember, anyone can get rich!
People do overcome adverse circumstances, some rather splendidly. The right attitudes can help a lot, as can knowledge of one’s circumstances and options and how to make the most of them. But to suggest (yet again) that survival in a depre– excuse me, recession is simply a matter of will power, or that chance and circumstance have nothing to do with one’s chances of success? Please, give me a break! These myths fly in the face of every business principle.
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The lottery isn’t about luck, it’s just statistics and (long) odds. Someone will win eventually and everyone else will lose, every time. A person doesn’t win because he or she is lucky but because they have the correct, randomly selected winning numbers. “Lucky” is semantically null. If one must be lucky prior to playing the lottery in order to win, then why do “unlucky” people play (the vast majority who lose over and over yet continue to play)? If winning proves that a person is “lucky” then the result defines the quality! And if you really want to belabor the point, look at the bankruptcy statistics for lottery winners – much higher than the general population.
Quit looking at the lottery as a matter of luck and call it what it is: the Bad Math Tax.
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This concept reminds me of some articles from my grad school days (background in rhetoric). A fellow named Lloyd Bitzer argues in “The Rhetorical Situation” that certain situations force rhetors into action – he calls such situations exigencies.
Then, in another article by Richard Vatz called “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation,” Vatz argues that rhetors describe situations in ways that make action seem inevitable when it isn’t. There you go – reactive v. proactive, it’s the way of the world.
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You know that it is dangerous to drive, and you chose to take that risk.
Nice. I bet you’d be a hit at a crisis-counseling line. “Well, ma’am, you CHOSE to be raped. You know that it’s dangerous to become involved in romantic relationships with men….”
This kind of attitude (you make your own luck, you ‘chose’ to have bad things happen) is called “defensive attribution”. If I always blame the victim, then on some level, I am reassuring myself that bad things cannot happen to me, because you don’t have those things happen unless you choose to take certain actions; therefore, I will choose not to take those actions and will be perfectly safe.
Yes, we make our own attitude, and preparation is important for opportunity. But it’s really tiresome when “you make your own luck” is used as an excuse to ignore when we HAVE been lucky, and perhaps even undeserving. It’s a lot easier to prepare for opportunity when opportunity comes thick and fast to you.
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People will sometimes say to me: “You are so lucky!”
And every time I say “Luck had nothing to do with it.”
Some people smile and nod but most just look confused..
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“But the larger point remains: Though we cannot change the hand we’re dealt, we can choose how we play it. Too many people fold when they could keep playing…”
This is so true! I love this post, I really do. It’s easy to sit back and think that everyone else gets lucky but ourselves. My family has a saying, in fact, that if it weren’t for our bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all. For my part, I realize that is somewhat self-defeatist and I’ve been working on turning that sort of negative attitude around. I’m trying to be more positive. I’m trying to play my hand in a better light. But, I’m naturally a negative person – partly because of my upbringing and partly because of habit. So, the turning a crappy day into a positive experience is TOUGH! Thanks for sharing this article and Dr. Wiseman’s blog! I’ll be reading through for more tips!
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Interesting comments, and I totally agree with this: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
My husband lost his job last month. Unlucky right? After I wallowed for a couple of days, we started looking around.
There were plenty of jobs, but my husband isn’t qualified – no tertiary education, just 20 years experience.
We put in 4 weeks of hard work. Applied for every job going, spent all day on the phone to people and travelling to interviews.
From the time we started looking for work, to now, we’ve changed his career 3 times. We’ve enrolled him in external tertiary education. He’s contacted every boss he’s ever had for references and had to deal with one of his most recent bosses (as in the last 6 years) giving him a bad reference because “he left us in the lurch” Apparently 6 weeks notice isn’t enough. We’ve spent days claiming unemployment, arguing with insurance companies over income protection insurance that wouldn’t pay out, administrators that can’t pay entitlements, and assorted government departments over the illegal acts of the company he worked for.
This week he got a job doing something he couldn’t have imagined 12 months ago. In a location we want to be. Paying more than he was earning before. Doing work he wants to do.
Was he unlucky to lose his job? No way. Two months ago I wouldn’t have disagreed with you if you’d said we were unlucky, but now I consider us extremely “lucky” it happened then, because our economy (in Australia) in six months time will have thousands and thousands of people looking for work.
When it happened I spent a lot of time reading about how people cope with redundancies, and invariably people end up better off. When I read that I changed my attitude. That would be us. We would end up better off.
We looked at other opportunities. Other locations. Through hard work and perseverance it now looks like we will be getting a payout from the company. I have a business starting up, and he has a job that will keep a roof over our heads and food on the table and the job satisfaction he has been chasing.
Are we lucky? Maybe. Maybe too we were just prepared to take advantage of any opportunity that presented itself.
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The concept described in this post is one that I have been struggling with recently. My husband and I are quitting our well-paying stable jobs very soon and leaving to travel around the world beginning in mid-September for a year or so. Often, we get the comment that “we are so lucky” to be doing this. But, luck had absolutely nothing to do with our round-the-world trip — we scrimped and saved and are doing this trip debt-free with money left in the bank for when we get home. We deliberately planned our career goals so that we could manage to take a career break and so my husband could continue doing contract work while we are abroad.
When I expressed my irritation about how people call us “lucky” on our blog, other long-term travelers responded that they, too, are viewed as being lucky even though they sacrificed much to be able to travel in this way. There is certainly such a thing as “happenstance” or “accidents” over which we have no control but choosing a way to live—whether working at home or traveling long-term—is the product of a self-made luck.
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I believe much of the “luck” in business,and other areas of life, happens for people who are more in tune with their “gut feelings.” As J.D. mentions, Gladwell had it right when he said our first instincts are usually right. However, most of us have been taught to analyze things, sleep on decisions, avoid risk,etc, and so we miss the window of opportunity. While some analysis is prudent, sometimes you just have to go with your gut.
Preparation is also key, as we have to stay in the right frame of mind to make these gut-feel decisions. Like golfer Gary Player said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get?”
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It’s true that most people who others call “lucky” actually made their own luck in one way or another. Similar to when people see someone is very successful come out of nowhere they say he/she was an overnight success yet they had been working their butts off for years to become that “overnight success.”
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I don’t believe in luck. But I think people can make their own luck! For example, if someone works hard, he/she will increase his/her chance of being success.
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Interesting – “Our attitudes produce our luck” and extremely true, I notice when I am in good state of mind everything else flows into place and lucky things happen and when I’m not, well this is another story. Thanks for your blog post it has enlightened me to become more aware of my thoughts and attitudes : )
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