Thread: What is Luck? (Baby don't hurt me)

"Luck" is a catch-all phrase used by people to describe forces they don't understand, or that they feel are beyond their own control.

Most of the time it is used from the outside looking in, as in "He's so lucky." or "He didn't do anything special, it was just luck."

You can choose to believe in luck, or not.

One thing I heard about luck long ago is the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Or you might say the smarter you work, the luckier you get.

Me?

I'm the luckiest man in the world.

Thanks for asking.

The-J

Check out my 2 cent response to that thread. Its all about Applying Knowledge and Actions to account for as many fastlane variables as possible. The other variables that cannot be accounted for is the "luck" or the "probabilities".

Whats better a 50/50 chance of becoming a millionaire in the Fastlane or a 1 in 250 million chance by playing the lottery. One is praying for a win while the other is manipulation to win. Thats the difference.

"Luck" is just an excuse. When something bad happens, like getting a parking ticket, people blame it on "Bad Luck". In reality, it probably could have easily been prevented by paying attention to the posted sign or the meter.

When something good happens, such as a celebrity buying your product and tweeting his fans, people say that person is "So Lucky. When in reality, that person probably put in a ton of hours and hard work to create a great product that the celebrity "had" to have. It wasn't luck. It was hard work and effort. It was focusing on your business day in and day out. It was not being lazy hoping that you'll win the lottery one day. It was getting off your ass because you know that there's a better way then being a slave in the middle class.

I'm a firm believer that We create our Own "Luck", whether it be good or bad. I daily actions reflect what happens to us.

"Luck" is just an EXCUSE.

No, I don't believe in luck, at all. It is a limiting belief, like believing in fate, destiny or tea leaves. I am the product of my choices. Knowledge and its application wipes out the need to believe in luck.

Sue

Speaking for myself, I believe in luck/destiny. I could have been born in a far worse place, with much different wirings in my brain, under sadly different circumstances.

Luck is generally defined as things that one has little or no control. Some people believe that they have little control. Others believe that they can control most things.

Originally Posted by BeingChewsie

No, I don't believe in luck, at all. It is a limiting belief, like believing in fate, destiny or tea leaves. I am the product of my choices. Knowledge and its application wipes out the need to believe in luck.

Sue

I tend to be in this camp. I've never blamed bad luck for anything: I was never taught about luck. The only time my parents told me I was lucky is when they would say 'You're lucky you have food on your plate'.

So what about the things that are indeed outside of your direct control, good or bad? I say work towards the good and prepare for the bad. Do what the 'lucky' people did. Lady Gaga, when asked about how she got successful after leaving New York University, she said something like "I pressed on, lived broke and ate shit until someone listened to me." She says she's fortunate, but she doesn't deny that she worked hard to get to where she was. Ask any successful person in any field, regardless of money made, and they will tell you that they worked hard for a long time before they got their 'big break'.

In the same vein, you have all those stars, lottery winners, crime bosses etc. who 'fall from grace', lose all their money and end up destitute. They often attribute their woes to one thing, one bad deal or one person, something out of their control. One big loss that, in reality, was just one thing that was a result of a string of bad choices.

People romanticize the big break and the fall from grace but they don't acknowledge what led to it.

I believe I am one of the luckiest people alive.

The harder I work the luckier I am

Seriously though. You ever notice how negative people are usually the ones who are unlucky?

You attract what you put out there. If you are negative, don't go out of your way to help other people etc, most likely you are not going to be very lucky in life.

I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in opportunities, circumstances, and timing. I believe that little advantages multiplied by time can equal huge advantages.

If you really want to read a book that, in my opinion, destroys both the notion that people are born lucky or just happen to get lucky and the notion that people are successful entirely on their own, read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. It will really make you think about how the world works and how even the smallest opportunity or advantage can mean the difference between being Bill Gates and some guy you've never heard of because he didn't make it big.

Luck is for lottery winners. I have never gotten lucky in business. I have earned every scar, every win, and every dollar.

I believe that luck is really the intersection of preparedness and opportunity. You make your own luck by being prepared.

Originally Posted by Trevor Kuntz

If you really want to read a book that, in my opinion, destroys both the notion that people are born lucky or just happen to get lucky and the notion that people are successful entirely on their own, read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. It will really make you think about how the world works and how even the smallest opportunity or advantage can mean the difference between being Bill Gates and some guy you've never heard of because he didn't make it big.

Yes. Outliers really helped me understand the advantages inherent in the time and place that I am in, mixed with extremely hard work. That was the book that really helped me do away with the concept of luck, something that I used to cling to explain away my lack of money. Silly, looking back on it.

Sue

Unless one had a say in how their genes were designed and the manner in which their brain is wired, it is difficult to discount luck except by ignoring it.

Originally Posted by Rickson9

Unless one had a say in how their genes were designed and the manner in which their brain is wired, it is difficult to discount luck except by ignoring it.

So then what can you attribute to that 'luck' and what can you attribute to what is in your control?

Admittedly, I was creeping on your I BECAME A MILLIONAIRE IN MY 30s site through the Wayback machine (I recommend everyone do this: there's some golden information there but you can't download the partner letters that are for sale. Or I would recommend this as long as Rickson9 doesn't object to it). I read a magazine interview you did back in the late 90s and you said that your parents told you to become an engineer or whatever and to get good grades, but you realized things weren't that simple. Would you attribute that to how your brain is wired or is it something you learned and decided to believe (such as my tendency to agnosticism, although I grew up in a Roman Catholic family)?

Sorry if you don't agree with me using the Wayback machine to find long-deleted information, curiosity got the best of me.

Originally Posted by Likwid24

"Luck" is just an excuse. When something bad happens, like getting a parking ticket, people blame it on "Bad Luck". In reality, it probably could have easily been prevented by paying attention to the posted sign or the meter.

When something good happens, such as a celebrity buying your product and tweeting his fans, people say that person is "So Lucky. When in reality, that person probably put in a ton of hours and hard work to create a great product that the celebrity "had" to have. It wasn't luck. It was hard work and effort. It was focusing on your business day in and day out. It was not being lazy hoping that you'll win the lottery one day. It was getting off your ass because you know that there's a better way then being a slave in the middle class.

I'm a firm believer that We create our Own "Luck", whether it be good or bad. I daily actions reflect what happens to us.

"Luck" is just an EXCUSE.

The LUCK happened because you put in all that hard work work and had that product for the celebrity to buy and then tweet about. So there such a thing as luck. But there is no luck if you do NOTHING.

Bad luck can happen. There was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened to me head! I asked!