Are you lucky?

[youbet]

There's dumb luck that we have no control over. Then there's luck where preparation meets opportunity.

The distinction is necessary because you don't want to ever associate a "bad" happening with your preparation, only good happenings. So,

Bad Happening = dumb luck
Good Happening = preparation meeting opportunity

I find that almost everyone I know sorts life's events out this way! And why not? Beating our own chests in victory and avoiding responsibility for defeat is one of the key pleasures in life!

 

[braumeister]

There is good luck and bad luck. Either way, it's best considered as something you didn't plan for.

 

[kcowan]

Bad Happening = dumb luck
Good Happening = preparation meeting opportunity

Have you ever seen videos of people avoiding being killed because the out-of-control car hits a post or something else? IOW dumb luck=good luck.

 

[MRG]

Very lucky. I spent 10 years in one of the most dangerous industries. I escaped with 6 stitches. A lot of guys I worked with are dead.

Almost run over by a log loader. Ran a log truck going 50 through a 4 way intersection. Took a trucks 80 pound trip stake right on the head. Guy used to try dropping logs on my head...... still alive. Standing behind a 60K circle saw that hit a 3/4" cable, every tooth and shank were gone!

 

[Major Tom]

A number of posts early on in this thread all specify being born in the US, but I'd expand that to say that, by and large, anyone born in a developed country in, say, the last 100 years (perhaps a little less) is most likely well ahead of the game compared to most other folk born before them. Funnily enough, I have on occasion wondered if I would have been more driven to succeed had I experienced a few more challenges. I'm a white heterosexual male who was born into a middle class family in the UK in the 1960's. Nothing in my adult life was handed to me on a plate, but neither were any barriers placed in my way. How dare my parents unwittingly not provide me with any challenges to overcome. You have no idea how impoverished I feel as a result

There is an artist called Ben Folds who, in a song about called "Rockin' The Suburbs", sings,

"Y'all don't know what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white"

The song is quite hilarious. In another part, after singing about how slavery was not personally his fault, he declares,

"It wasn't my idea
Never was my idea
I just drove to the store
For some Preparation-H"

It doesn't really come across when just reading the lyrics, but I always found this song about supposed white, male, middle-class angst very funny.

Anyway, yeah, I'm lucky. Got a small apartment, a bicycle, a good friend to do stuff with, a computer, 3 cats, and just enough money to maintain this happy state of affairs. Lap of luxury, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Walt34]

Nothing in my adult life was handed to me on a plate, but neither were any barriers placed in my way.

That's about how it was for me as well. We weren't wealthy but no one would call us poor either. Dad was an electrician for the power company, started out as a lineman but later got an inside job in the meter lab, where they calibrated the electric meters. My mother was a SAHM until we were in Jr. High School, then got a federal secretary job at NIH. So unlike some others here, I've never had to dumpster dive for food or even went hungry, although the meals were often not what I wanted. (I still hate broccoli.) I got good medical attention growing up, had all the immunization shots, dental checkups and the like. And I had no idea how good I had it!

As an infant I survived a surgery that at the time had a 50% survival rate. I didn't get polio like the girl next door did. She was in leg braces for years. When the vaccine came out our parents made dang sure we got it! Never had any serious injuries or illnesses, just the normal childhood bruises and fevers. To date I've never even had a broken bone. (Now that I wrote that, that bus that goes around hunting people will find me.)

I got a job that would provide a solid middle-class standard of living during working years and in retirement and despite the hazards of it I was never seriously injured or (obviously) killed, although that did happen to others.

Been happily married for 28 years to a wonderful woman who understands me (well, most of the time).

So yeah, I think I'm lucky.

 

[doneat54]

Hard worker committed to FIRE? You bet.
Lucky? Yeah, that too. Without a doubt.

And as a cancer survivor, I take nothing for granted.......

 

[swakyaby]

I think sometime we attribute things to the dumb luck category, when in fact we were the ones that (mostly) affected the "lucky" outcomes.

I read an interesting study that seemed to show just that. People were asked to rate themselves if they considered themselves "lucky" or "unlucky" or "neither lucky nor unlucky." They were then given a task and told to count the number of times a particular word showed up in a 4 page article. Most people would skim through the printed article, laboriously tabulated the number of times a word appeared in the article and give the answer after 12 minutes. But the people who rated themselves "lucky" would start to count, then notice something, and give the correct answer in a fraction of the time than those who labelled themselves "unlucky" or neither.

"Lucky" people would look at a task differently than ordinary people and find the shortcut to success. In this case, they glanced over the article first and noticed the answer embedded in the article, saying "The number of times (the) appears in this article is 118 times."

It's true, sometimes we create our own luck.

 

[gcgang]

I must've been born under a lucky star.

I turned 18, it became legal to vote, legal to drink, and the draft ended. Lucky I didn't kill myself drinking, I turn 21, and they change the age to drink back to 21.

 

[NW-Bound]

OK, here's a similar lucky story of mine.

When I first came to AZ, the drinking age was 19. And that was my age. So, I immediately was able to hang out drinking cheap tap beer with friends in a bar close to campus. Some time later, they changed it to 21, but by that time I was already much older.

PS. Just looked it up. In 1986, Congress demanded that all states must raise the drinking age to 21 or lose some highway funding.

 

[brucethebroker]

Overall, I'd say yes, I am lucky. Lucky to be born in the US (well really being born in Texas was the lucky part) Lucky to find a career that I was good at and made my fortune. Lucky to have had good health (so far) and the list goes on....

However, I have no doubt that the luckiest day of my life was July 1, 1970 when I "won" the selective service lottery. (I can still remember watching it live on TV) At the time, I didn't think much about it since I was just happy with getting a high number. Later I realized that is was quite possibly a life or death decision point for me that was completely out of my hands and depended on the outcome of the luck of the draw.

Yep, me too. 290 was my draw-whew! I remember all the guys in my dorm sitting around watching the draft lottery on TV. Had a friend draw under 100. Stayed in school, got married and started a family. Kept him out of 'Nam. He is still married, BTW.

 

[Car-Guy]

The OP asked "Are you lucky?"

Well, no one has played this well-worn video where Dirty Harry asked the same question.

PS. If you look closely, you will see a goof. As Harry walked up to the perp, the latter's shotgun was a couple of feet away. Then, at the close-up shot, it mysteriously came within a few inches of his hand.

Several mistakes in those scenes. Shotgun movement is definitely one of them. Another, maybe not as obvious to most people is, if you watch closely, just before Harry pulls the trigger, he cocks the gun (so it ready for single action fire) but when he pulls the trigger you can see the cylinder rotate, indicating double action fire. Any "gun guy" will catch that mistake. Also, if you look "very very" close, you'll notice that he is using a SW Model 29-2 pin gun. Which is a real 44 mag of that time frame. (with blanks of course).

 

[dallas27]

I was lucky, though, certainly not the luckiest, and I did the most I think could manage to with the luck I was given.

 

[kcowan]

"Lucky" people would look at a task differently than ordinary people and find the shortcut to success. In this case, they glanced over the article first and noticed the answer embedded in the article, saying "The number of times (the) appears in this article is 118 times."

It's true, sometimes we create our own luck.

During university exams, I would always read the whole exam and then answer the easy questions first. This gave me a sense of accomplishment and left lots of time for the harder questions. I openly shared this strategy with others but most did not change their approach.

 

[Danmar]

OK, here's a similar lucky story of mine.

When I first came to AZ, the drinking age was 19. And that was my age. So, I immediately was able to hang out drinking cheap tap beer with friends in a bar close to campus. Some time later, they changed it to 21, but by that time I was already much older.

PS. Just looked it up. In 1986, Congress demanded that all states must raise the drinking age to 21 or lose some highway funding.

I had the opposite happen to me. The day after I turned 21 they lowered the drinking age to 18 in Ontario. No big deal as I had more people to drink with. Some years later they raised it to 19.

 

[ls99]

I must be.

Born wrong side of track, made it US legally, Did Army stint 1967-70, rode around the oceans on a research ship, traipsied around Alaska at my employers expense, w*rked in nuke power generating plant, had a life size electric train set complete with drivers, passangers, and repairmen. Retired reletively early at 59 and 1/2 exactly and now I am within a few days of the magic age of........69. Now that thought puts a simile on my mug. And can still do jujutsu, kayak and figure skate.

Damn right I am lucky.

 

[Skyward1]

To be born is to win the lottery of all lotteries. When you think about the odds of all your biological predecessors coming together and that specific spermatozoa fertilizing a specific egg over millennia with all the vagaries of life it's mind-boggling to even have the opportunity to exist let alone prosper.

 

[ls99]

To be born is to win the lottery of all lotteries. When you think about the odds of all your biological predecessors coming together and that specific spermatozoa fertilizing a specific egg over millennia with all the vagaries of life it's mind-boggling to even have the opportunity to exist let alone prosper.

And to be able to choose great parents on the good side of the track, is even more difficult.

 

[NW-Bound]

To be born is to win the lottery of all lotteries. When you think about the odds of all your biological predecessors coming together and that specific spermatozoa fertilizing a specific egg over millennia with all the vagaries of life it's mind-boggling to even have the opportunity to exist let alone prosper.

Well, imagine how crowded the earth would be if every egg gets born, let alone every sperm gets lucky!

 

[MRG]

During university exams, I would always read the whole exam and then answer the easy questions first. This gave me a sense of accomplishment and left lots of time for the harder questions. I openly shared this strategy with others but most did not change their approach.

I've done similar things on tests. Manage the time to spend it on high success problems.