Are You Lucky?

[Letters]

Dunno if anyone saw Derren Brown's 'experiment' about luck last Friday.

Quite interesting, he started a rumour about a 'lucky' dog statue in a local park in a Yorkshire village and got different people to see whether stroking the dog made them 'lucky'.

He was trying to show that people aren't inherently lucky or unlucky but that 'lucky' people are those with a positive attitude who take more opportunities in life.

I thought the end was weak where someone (who considered themselves unlucky but was made to feel more positive by Derren's explanation) put their money on the roll of a dice - he won of course and I suspect it was fiddled but I've no idea how, but that wasn't about taking an opportunity but was more about dumb luck which seemed to be the exact opposite of what he was trying to show.

Anyway, do you think you're a lucky person? Do you think some people are luckier than others or is it more of a state of mind?

[Marc Overmars]

State of mind tbh. There's no way of quantifying how lucky or unlucky someone is. If people think they're not going to achieve something, they won't.

[LDG]

Most of it is down to state of mind I guess. Also down to positioning yourself in order to get lucky.

No point in moaning that you don't win anything, when you don't enter anything to start off with.

Also, job related. If you work hard, you may not ever get the reward you deserve if you don't push people, because nobody will pay more than they have to unless you leave them no alternative.

Attitude, risk, ability etc all come into it.

Unless of course you're born into luck, like the Royal Family, who have wealth because of nothing in particular.

[Coney]

If you aren't good at what you do, it is easy just to claim bad luck rather than look at what you did and see where you went wrong. If someone else succeeds, it is easy to claim it is good luck rather than suggest they did it better.

Anyway, luck does not exist as imagined. It is simply statistical fact that some people will have more random events work in their favour than others. It doesn't make them 'lucky', just that they happen to be the ones who had the right combination. Which is a matter of luck, of course.

[Syn]

Opens a philosophical and theological can-o-worms.

IMO luck relates to something that happens to you that you consider ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ - which is subjective. You need some sort of reference point. In that sense it is a state of mind. But everyone isn’t equal and some people are more ‘blessed’ than others. Is William Arthur Philip Louis or some other rich kid lucky that he won the genetic lottery? I think most would agree so.

Not considering the quirky ‘look, I found a tenner under the sofa’ line of thinking that others will have, I think I’ve been quite lucky. Got a shit family but, other things being equal, things have kinda worked out for me so far. But then again I might just think that because I like to set my expectations low.

[Niall_Quinn]

If you aren't good at what you do, it is easy just to claim bad luck rather than look at what you did and see where you went wrong. If someone else succeeds, it is easy to claim it is good luck rather than suggest they did it better.

Anyway, luck does not exist as imagined. It is simply statistical fact that some people will have more random events work in their favour than others. It doesn't make them 'lucky', just that they happen to be the ones who had the right combination. Which is a matter of luck, of course.

Yep. If you show up for a job interview and get turned down you are unlucky. If you show up for ten job interviews and eventually get a job then you are a lucky bastard. At least that's how some see it. It gives them a reason to shift the focus from their own failings. I'm starting to get lucky towards the end of a fucking hard slog of a year. Glad I didn't give up at the start and claim I was unlucky because I'd be deep in do-do by now. You don't make your own luck, you just show up enough times until you're in the right place at the right time.

[Syn]

You don't make your own luck, you just show up enough times until you're in the right place at the right time.

That's beautiful. In fact, I'm stealing it.

"You don't make your own luck, you just show up enough times until you're in the right place at the right time" -- Syn (16/11/11)

[Niall_Quinn]

"You don't make your own luck, you just show up enough times until you're in the right place at the right time" -- Syn (16/11/11)

Top notch - and what's more, I agree with you 100%

[Letters]

Not considering the quirky ‘look, I found a tenner under the sofa’ line of thinking that others will have, I think I’ve been quite lucky. Got a shit face but, other things being equal, things have kinda worked out for me so far.

Fixed that for you.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Fixed that for you.

Somebody needs to fix your unlucky face.