My friend and I were eating in one of the restaurants in Davao. We had not seen each other for more than two years. We talked on several topics like careers, marriage, and travels. Then, suddenly, without warning, he told me blankly, “You’re so lucky.”
That comment stupefied me. “Why do you think so?” I inquired. “Well, you have a job which you enjoy most. You have traveled to almost all parts of the world. Most importantly, you have met a lot of famous people.”
Now, that completely bewildered me. I never considered myself lucky. What I am doing is just part of my work. To quote the famous line of the late Rudy Fernandez in Markang Bungo: “Trabaho lang; walang personalan.”
Hard work, perseverance, and determination are the top three assets I have been doing to get to where I am now. Of course, my trust in the Lord is also part of it. And, yes, I don’t believe in luck. As Albert Einstein himself said, “I do not believe that the Good Lord plays dice.”
“Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances: It was somebody’s name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise,” commented Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Strong men believe in cause and effect. The man was born to do it, and his father was born to be the father of him and of this deed, and, by looking narrowly, you shall see there was no luck in the matter, but it was all a problem in arithmetic, or an experiment in chemistry.”
Luck can be defined as the necessity of an additional power which may be spiritual, rational or social, so as to provide success to one in his life.
There are two types of luck, good or bad. Someone once said, “Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation.” Robert Collier pointed out, “The man who persists through the bad luck – who keeps right on going – is the man who is there when the good luck comes – and is ready to receive it.”
In The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, author Jessica Sorensen wrote: “Life is full of luck, like getting dealt a good hand or simply by being in the right place at the right time. Some people get luck handed to them, a second chance, a save. It can happen heroically, or by a simple coincidence, but sometimes don’t get luck on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.”
Can luck be scientifically proven? “For centuries, people have recognized the power of luck and have done whatever they could to try seizing it. Take knocking on wood, thought to date back to pagan ritual aimed at eliciting help from powerful tree gods.” wrote Richard Wiseman in an article which appeared in Reader’s Digest.
Is being lucky really real? Wiseman conducted a study on why some people are lucky while others are not. He interviewed 400 men and women from all walks of life – ages 18 to 84. Scientifically, he found three things on how a person can make his own breaks.
“How can you say luck and chance are the same?” asked Amy Tan. “Chance is the first step you take; luck is what comes afterwards.”
But one wonders: Why do lucky people always get those chance opportunities? The answer: lucky people open their minds. “Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they’re too busy looking for something else. Lucky people see what is there rather than just what they’re looking for,” Wiseman explained.
Brian Tracy has the same idea: “I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.”
Ovid agrees, “Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast. In the stream where you least expect it, there will be fish.”
What about misfortunes or bad luck for that matter? How do lucky people deal with them? Wiseman asked his subjects being in a situation: “Imagine you are in a bank. Suddenly, an armed robber enters and fires a shot that hits you in the arm.”
Unlucky people responded that it’s their bad luck to be in the bank when the robbery happened. Lucky people, on the other hand, said it could be worse; that is, being shot in the head.
“This kind of thinking makes people feel better about themselves, keeps expectations high and increases the likelihood of continuing to live a lucky life,” Wiseman said.
Mark Cuban shares this sentiment: “It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because all that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.”
Good behavior can enhance good fortune, according to Wiseman. Always look at the brighter side of life. Don’t delve on the negatives; think positively. Learn from the past; history repeats itself. “The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck,” Channing Pollock said.
To explain his theory, Wiseman relates this story: “One unlucky subject said that after adjusting her attitude – expecting good fortune, not dwelling on the negative – her bad luck had vanished. One day, she went shopping and found a dress she liked. But she didn’t buy it, and when she returned to the store in a week, it was gone. Instead of slinking away disappointed, she looked around and found a better dress – for less.”
