Role of luck in life success

[timo2]

Being born into a developed country is a big big lucky thing. Just being able to have the physical infrastructure to support your endeavours is a giant head start over undeveloped countries. If every road was dirt or a toll road, if the power grid was shaky, and if the educational system was poor it would be very difficult for businesses to get going and be successful.

 

[kgtest]

I once did contractor work a few days at a private college. Talking with one of the office staffers I mentioned how they must pay well with all the BMWs in the parking lot. She pointed to the parking lot full of Corollas and Ford's and told me that's the employee lot. The Bimmers are in the student lot.
Did luck get the BMW and hard work the Corolla?

Hah! There is that.

 

[Winemaker]

So I guess it boils down to whether you're born in a place with drinkable water or reasonable facsimile.

 

[exnavynuke]

Luck provides opportunity. Opportunities can be ignored, seized and squandered, or seized and utilized to their full potential, or something in between. What science and common sense tell us, however, is that not everyone is provided with the same opportunities (some have more/less "luck").

More importantly, however, is that not everyone is provided with the "luck" to be/have been molded into the kind of person that will seek out and recognize opportunities when luck does bring them about.

Every time this topic comes up, I'm reminded of the movie Good Will Hunting. While no one who watches the movie can miss the fact that his friends recognized the tremendous opportunity he had as a result of his "luck" in having his mental prowess, what most miss out on is that the rest of his social circle has, at a young age, completely accepted their fate/lot in life. That is simply the norm for many people, and most especially those who have fewer opportunities (i.e. luck) based on the circumstances they are born into.

Sure, we can all brainstorm or show examples of how people in any socio-economic group can climb out of it, but that exercise is useless without considering the mental leap necessary to go from a group that has been raised to accept their lot in life and assume they can't do better to becoming someone that challenges that norm in their segment of society. That's a leap that most people will never make, in large part due to how they were raised and those they were/are surrounded with all having the same assumptions of what "is or isn't possible", regardless of what actually "could be possible".

 

[nancyfrank232]

Luck provides opportunity. Opportunities can be ignored, seized and squandered, or seized and utilized to their full potential, or something in between

Personally I like the opportunity to be born to good parents, the opportunity to be born without a birth defect, the opportunity to avoid serious accidents, to be raised in a first world country, raised in a good neighborhood, not to be caught in a natural disaster, to avoid getting cancer or some other chronic or terminal illness, born in the right century, not live through a world war or plague, not be a slave, have antibiotics and other medicines available...among other opportunities that I was able to seize

 

[Bir48die]

I prefer to call it being blessed. From there the journey begins

 

[Sojourner]

But aren't you suggesting that we all have some sort of post-birth 'predestination'?

No, I wouldn't call it that, as I explain further below.

That what we are/become, successful/failure, rich/poor, good/bad person are all a matter of things out of our control and more about thousands of inputs and influences as we live?

Yes, this is basically what I'm saying and what I believe.

In that case, the billionaire doesn't deserve praise and the murderer doesn't deserve blame as we are all driven by these lifetimes of influences. We essentially have no choice because, as you say like Bill Gates, "he really didn't choose any of that" and it is a function of our genes and influences that shape our decisions. No?

While I wouldn't call it "predestination", it does seem to me that all personal characteristics, such as work ethic, attitude, inventiveness, confidence, determination, are entirely due to happenstance. For example, my work ethic is due to a combination of my genetics (which gave me the brain I have) along with thousands of large and small influences and experiences I've had over the course of my life, from my parents, teachers, friends, and many others. I can't point to anything that shaped my work ethic as something that didn't originate within my brain (which I didn't choose and simply works the way it does) and that wasn't predicated and built upon a variety of external influences and events that I also didn't author.

I suppose it comes down to how you define things like "choice". An earlier post mentioned two brothers, one of whom became very successful while the other "chose" to become a spendthrift playboy. From my perspective, these brothers' decisions cannot be separated from the luck-based factors that made them who they are. They didn't choose their DNA, nor their childhood experiences and environment, nor the myriad of (random) experiences they had all along the way. All those things combined to lead one brother down the path of success and other to failure. Any "choices" they made were entirely due to the combination of their specific genetics with all their individual, unique life experiences and influences that formed their personalities. Having said that, though, I wouldn't call it predestination, because there are always random, unpredictable events in life that can and often do entirely change a person's life trajectory.

Anyway, just my two cents. Kind of a philosophical/theoretical musing that may be drifting a little OT.

 

[foxfirev5]

Looking back I've had enough near death experiences to convince me that luck plays a disproportionate role. Hard work merely filled the gaps between the mishaps,misdeeds and other calamities. Having a thick skin and short memory helped me to continue my plodding lifestyle. Now here I sit with sufficient financial wherewithal, good health and happiness. I'll call it about 90% luck.

 

[HFWR]

Haven’t yet been lucky enough to win the Powerball jackpot.

Although that could end up being a lot of w*rk...

I had excellent grades, but was lucky the R&D department hired me, rather than production.

Was a high performer, in more ways than one, but was lucky to be rehired after a layoff. Let’s just say that there was opportunity elsewhere, but for 1/3 the pay.

Was again lucky after layoff #2, when I just happened to respond to a happy hour invite, which led to my next adventure in employment, once again in a research setting, thus limited pressure to go really fast, or “look busy”...

Again, my reputation and performance certainly gave me an edge, but I could have just as easily spent my last 10-15 years managing a Furr’s cafeteria or selling annuities...

 

[albireo13]

My own perspective is that our current plight is the result of 40% luck and 60% the other stuff that we do or accomplish. You can use whatever ratios you want in that mix.

Luck, by it's very nature, consists of things and events totally out of our control.
Thus, statements such as "I make my own luck" are meaningless and silly. That's all part of the 60%.

A huge part of luck is the state into which we are born … 1st world country, caring parents, not being a Downes child, etc … the list goes on.

Luck also plays a role in every day of our lives.

The role of luck in our lives is huge.

 

[ckelly78z]

I guess one could argue that I am lucky from the following list of life events that have happened to me over my 54 years, but somehow persevered to be ready for F.I.R.E regardless of my constant medical bills....My 9 lives !

1. Hit by a 45 mph locomotive in a Pinto in 1982 100 stitches to my face, and shoulder when pinned between the windshield, and rear window...no broken bones.
2. 1987 Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 23 with 6 months of daily radiation treatments
3. 1989 DVT blood clot in my chest from radiation treatments. week in the hospital.
4. 1992 Recurrence of Hodgkins 23 chemo treatments using ABVD drugs.
5. 2001 CHF cogestive heart failure by the use of Adriamicin in "A"BVD cancer drugs.
6. 2007 recurrence of CHF
7. 2013 Speeding drunk runs stop sign into the side of my Porsche...17 broken bones, lacerated liver 6 months off work learning to walk again
8. 2013 Blood clots in both legs from being static after accident.
9. 2017 New pacemaker/defib from failing heart, IGG4 disorder 25 chemo treatments (&) kidney function reduction all at the same time.

I still live an active life, and work hard at my job, and at home on the farm after all this, but some consider me lucky (and out of available lives). This may help explain why I want to take SS, and pension at 62 along with a nicely growing portfolio.

 

[Dtail]

I guess one could argue that I am lucky from the following list of life events that have happened to me over my 54 years, but somehow persevered to be ready for F.I.R.E regardless of my constant medical bills....My 9 lives !

1. Hit by a 45 mph locomotive in a Pinto in 1982 100 stitches to my face, and shoulder when pinned between the windshield, and rear window...no broken bones.
2. 1987 Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 23 with 6 months of daily radiation treatments
3. 1989 DVT blood clot in my chest from radiation treatments. week in the hospital.
4. 1992 Recurrence of Hodgkins 23 chemo treatments using ABVD drugs.
5. 2001 CHF cogestive heart failure by the use of Adriamicin in "A"BVD cancer drugs.
6. 2007 recurrence of CHF
7. 2013 Speeding drunk runs stop sign into the side of my Porsche...17 broken bones, lacerated liver 6 months off work learning to walk again
8. 2013 Blood clots in both legs from being static after accident.
9. 2017 New pacemaker/defib from failing heart, IGG4 disorder 25 chemo treatments (&) kidney function reduction all at the same time.

I still live an active life, and work hard at my job, and at home on the farm after all this, but some consider me lucky (and out of available lives). This may help explain why I want to take SS, and pension at 62 along with a nicely growing portfolio.

Wow.....

 

[Retch The Grate]

Looking back I've had enough near death experiences to convince me that luck plays a disproportionate role. Hard work merely filled the gaps between the mishaps,misdeeds and other calamities. Having a thick skin and short memory helped me to continue my plodding lifestyle. Now here I sit with sufficient financial wherewithal, good health and happiness. I'll call it about 90% luck.

over the summer while hiking, I stumbled onto the edge of the trail and it gave way. I cartwheeled head over heals down slope, two complete somersaults and landed on my feet at the bottom of the ravine, straddling the creek. It was all clover and sequoia needles, super sproingy and aside from a couple scratches I was totally fine.

I was incredibly lucky, unlike lots of otherwise identical parts of the hike, there were no rocks or tree limbs that I hit on the way down. I was going hard enough that a head to one of those could have killed me easily. I landed on my feet at the bottom instead of being upside down in the rotation and landing on my neck. There was no skill involved, my moderate athletic activity gives me no special aid in avoiding injury while tumbling down slopes, etc.

 

[aja8888]

I guess one could argue that I am lucky from the following list of life events that have happened to me over my 54 years, but somehow persevered to be ready for F.I.R.E regardless of my constant medical bills....My 9 lives !

1. Hit by a 45 mph locomotive in a Pinto in 1982 100 stitches to my face, and shoulder when pinned between the windshield, and rear window...no broken bones.
2. 1987 Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 23 with 6 months of daily radiation treatments
3. 1989 DVT blood clot in my chest from radiation treatments. week in the hospital.
4. 1992 Recurrence of Hodgkins 23 chemo treatments using ABVD drugs.
5. 2001 CHF cogestive heart failure by the use of Adriamicin in "A"BVD cancer drugs.
6. 2007 recurrence of CHF
7. 2013 Speeding drunk runs stop sign into the side of my Porsche...17 broken bones, lacerated liver 6 months off work learning to walk again
8. 2013 Blood clots in both legs from being static after accident.
9. 2017 New pacemaker/defib from failing heart, IGG4 disorder 25 chemo treatments (&) kidney function reduction all at the same time.

I still live an active life, and work hard at my job, and at home on the farm after all this, but some consider me lucky (and out of available lives). This may help explain why I want to take SS, and pension at 62 along with a nicely growing portfolio.

Wow, makes my two implants and several broken bones a walk in the park. Good luck CK, and don't go near the railroad tracks.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Looking back I've had enough near death experiences to convince me that luck plays a disproportionate role. Hard work merely filled the gaps between the mishaps,misdeeds and other calamities. Having a thick skin and short memory helped me to continue my plodding lifestyle. Now here I sit with sufficient financial wherewithal, good health and happiness. I'll call it about 90% luck.

Good points. I've had some of those, like coming across a big trailer truck and multi-car accident right after it happened. A few minutes earlier and I could have been in that pile of cars. Some large, heavy boxes were accidentally pushed off a high shelf at a store and landed on the floor where I had been standing a few seconds earlier. A few seconds made the difference between going home in my car from shopping or going to the hospital in a rescue quad. I've had had quite a few close calls over the years that might have changed my life drastically. Sure I took advantage of the opportunities to get a tech degree and work on a business, but those are things I might not have been able to do if I had to spend those same years learning how to walk and talk again after a major accident.

 

[Fermion]

I still live an active life, and work hard at my job, and at home on the farm after all this, but some consider me lucky (and out of available lives). This may help explain why I want to take SS, and pension at 62 along with a nicely growing portfolio.

Bad lawyer or turnip uninsured motorist? I would think that what you suffered in 2013 would have been worth a million at least in pain and suffering.

 

[ckelly78z]

Bad lawyer or turnip uninsured motorist? I would think that what you suffered in 2013 would have been worth a million at least in pain and suffering.

Good lawyer, but had to sue MY insurance company for damages, the other idiot had state minimum coverage (allows $25,000 medical & $10,000 pain and suffering), and arrest records 2 pages long. We got $250,000, but after lawyer fees, and hospital bills...

 

[ckelly78z]

Wow, makes my two implants and several broken bones a walk in the park. Good luck CK, and don't go near the railroad tracks.

This was back before the trains had low mounted lighting, and crossing gates. The engineer said I was doing about 10 mph and looking, but a black train at night, with the headlight above my low window line of a Pinto, and of course the stereo was cranked with Asia "Wildest Dreams".

All windows blown out, all wheels bent, not 1 sq foot on that car that wasn't dented or ripped. I still have the license plate somewhere that is twisted, and has 3 tears in it.

 

[Starsky]

We are all a Thermodynamic Miracle.

 

[HFWR]

We are all a Thermodynamic Miracle.

I agree that life itself seems improbable, until I see a weed growing in a crack in a concrete road...

 

[Which Roger]

No discussion of luck would be complete without the story of Jack "Lucky" Lohrke.

Jack Lohrke was born in 1924. He began to play minor league baseball in 1942 when he was 18. Then, he was drafted into the army to fight in World War II. In 1942, while riding on a train through California to ship off to war, the train Lohrke was on went off the tracks. Three people were killed and many more were severely burned by steaming water that rushed through the train car. Lohrke walked away uninjured. In 1943, Lohrke fought in the Battle of Normandy. He survived and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the deadliest battle fought by American troops in the European Theater. On four separate occasions, the soldiers on either side of Lohrke were killed. Each time Lohrke walked away uninjured.

In 1945, Lohrke was sent home from war. He arrived in New Jersey and boarded a plane for his flight back to California. Just as the plane was about to take off, a colonel marched onto the plane and took his seat. Lohrke had to wait for the next plane. Less than an hour later, the plane crashed in Ohio. There were no survivors. In 1946, Lohrke was playing Double-A ball with the Spokane Indians in the Western International League. The team was driving up to play a series in Seattle when they stopped at a diner for lunch. As they were getting on the bus, Lohrke was told he had a phone call. He thought it was odd, considering he was in the middle of the Cascade Mountains. It turned out to be the team's owner, who called to tell Lohrke he has been promoted to Triple-A San Diego Padres (then in the Pacific Coast League). He had to make a choice: Continue with the team to Seattle and take a train back to Spokane from there? Or make it back home on his own? He chose to hitchhike back to Spokane. He said goodbye to his teammates and watched them board the bus. About 30 minutes later, the bus skidded on the wet highway and crashed through a guardrail before tumbling 350 feet into a ravine. Then, the gas tank exploded. Nine of the 15 players on board were killed. This tragedy remains one of the worst disasters in the history of American sports.

 

[HFWR]

Lucky, or unlucky? An estimated 165 people survived both atomic bombs.


https://www.history.com/news/the-man-who-survived-two-atomic-bombs

 

[kgtest]

Lucky, or unlucky? An estimated 165 people survived both atomic bombs.


https://www.history.com/news/the-man-who-survived-two-atomic-bombs

Clearly no luck involved. He made the choice to be where he was and the pilot dropping the bombs missed. A series of choices led to his fate.

 

[foxfirev5]

Clearly no luck involved. He made the choice to be where he was and the pilot dropping the bombs missed. A series of choices led to his fate.

I guess there are many interpretations of luck.

 

[Bigdawg]

In 1943, Lohrke fought in the Battle of Normandy.

Sorry, I try not to be "that guy", but D Day at Normandy was 6 June , 1944.

Great story though. I was suppose to be on a small plane and got bumped. Took greyhound instead. Plane crashed killing my whole town council. Had a few other close calls being a military guy. My mom passed over the I35 bridge in Minneapolis 15 minutes before it collapsed.