Coincidence, not sure about...consider the years I entered contests and sweepstakes, as a long term subscriber to THE CONTEST NEWSLETTER, I entered thousands of contests.

If you don't enter, you can't win, same as with the lottery. Serendipity is almost always perceived as good luck, isn't it? In contesting, there was routine and investment; envelopes, stamps, and forms. So that was preparation, for sure.

Can chance be leveraged? By buying 100 lottery tickets, do I increase my chances of cashing in? And if I buy only one and the other guy buys 1000, and I win, is that given up to a coincidence? I don't know.

Also, there is a belief that circumstance is the result of behavior, and when one finds oneself in an unfavorable circumstance, they have placed themselves there. Luck may be when they discover a magic exit door from there.

If it is viewed through an emotional lens, the the argument might be, do we not have control over our emotions?

I don't know what luck is really. But I do think it has a lot to do with mindset, and gratitude and appreciation, and dumb chance, might just be able to be educated to smart chance, no?

GordonJ

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That is a very reflective view of luck. Indeed, it is rather a matter of perspective and interpretation, based on individual understanding of coincidence and serendipity related to actions taken and preparedness. In this instance, luck may not be an independent energy but a subjective notion related to emotional reactions. The idea is that the life often consists in the mixture of accidental combination of circumstances with our decision, energy, willingness to take an advantage of a situation.

Is the gambler in question have a lot of money? Or is he broke? Professional gamblers can beat the house on some games with knowledge, but even then, many feel the touch of luck on their shoulder.

A good point you raise also, about place, we just had this discussion recently too, where I believe ENVIRONMENT plays a big part in success (and luck), and if you are in the wrong place, bad luck or misfortune is going to show up on your doorstep.

Luck can be the hand we are dealt, or it can be the cards we get once we throw away the old ones...and the lucky get the full house and unlucky get their chips taken.

Timing does play a part in a lot of business success, as does being around the right people at the right time, but is that luck or is that being smart?

GordonJ

To get to your amazing life, I suspect a lot of work went into it to overcome a host of situations, circumstances, and personal deals. So, results from WORK, not by chance, and as for creating luck...

Then I have to agree with Claude, when it is planned, designed, executed, adjusted...it isn't luck. I would say most businesses with long term success have been created by hard, smart work.

Luck is something we rarely think about until it appears. Then, be it black clouds or sunny days, we attribute our fortunes to it, and maybe afford it more responsibility than it deserves?

If luck is more than a defining experience of random or non random events, then can it be learned? BING AI says YES, luck can be learned? Not sure I agree.

GordonJ

My friend and I were walking downtown, and we walked around a puddle...we both looked at it, and then I saw something, it was a 20 in the water. There were dozens of people walking by...but I saw it, and scooped it up, my friend said: "OF COURSE you found it, because you're so lucky".

Maybe it was awareness or perception, I sense a bit of intuition too...but I practice the idea of being lucky. Why did so many people walk right over it? Noses in phones for some, conversation, but many didn't see it. Sure it was random chance but happened in the midst of scores of people.

As far as learning, isn't mind control, or hypnosis and learning how to "program" the subconscious mind for positive outcome along the same lines?

I also won a drawing every time we deployed on a sub, on for 12 weeks, off for 12 with a drawing held every week and 150+ people (chances). I once won 3 out of 12, from a random drawing, and won every single cycle. I did visualize winning and conjured up every bit of psychic juice I could muster to do it. But still, it doesn't get any more random than having a name in a hat with 150 other names, and no one ever won more than once while I was on board.

You may be right, and maybe learning is an incorrect idea, but maybe AWARENESS of all the good things, although I have always requested proof from the Universe with something tangible, not just good feelings of being fortunate.

GordonJ

Sort of the same answer various AI offered up. Bing said YES right away, chatgpt said no, with caveats, and some of the others more or less shrugged their invisible shoulders.

So, I asked AI: "Are thoughts things?" More vague hedging....things have shape and mass/weight (99.99% have weight), so no thoughts are not things, despite what Napoleon Hill tells us in THINK AND GROW RICH.

Then the BUTS start, and Dottie's big but is...thoughts produce behavior (action).

So, my answer to do I think luck is a skill?...is a definite no/yes/maybe.

I also "think" (believe?) that thoughts have an energy, like electricity which does not have weight or mass, but is still a thing, right?

My studies long ago were at what frequency, what power do they have...and the experiments involved the influence of balls; golf, basketballs and footballs. Never got into the bending of spoons or any of that nonsense, but I convinced myself I had the power to use PSI (psychic energy) to influence objects in motion, especially on the putting green.

Partners/competitors called me lucky on the greens, often saving par with a long putt...but they didn't know I was using my THOUGHTS to control the ball...that, plus a decade of one hour of putting drills every morning to start my day.

As my belief grew, and confidence, from which or whatever, I didn't bother to discern where the 'luck' came from, I just accepted it.

GordonJ

What isn't?

There is work, effort, practice...to build skills, experience and knowledge, all dictated by one's mindset.

When discussing mindset, and acknowledging we live in a stimulus/response world, the state of a mind is often found in knee jerk, first blush responses, or triggered responses due to bias.

A lucky mindset may see the glass half full, or half empty, and both could trigger a positive reaction...lucky me, I have half a glass left.

I want to see the demonstration of LUCK outside of the mind. The manifestation of the luck. The concrete, the tangible, the twenty dollar bill that everyone steps over.

If one thinks they are lucky, which is as good as any definition, they are...what I would like to see are the RESULTS of that mindset, and at the end of the day, it is all about what we tell ourselves.

Luck as demonstrated, how does that look, and all life comes down to perspective, bias, viewpoint and mindset. Maybe you can elaborate on why you think it is mindset, and how to control or guide your mindset to luckier events?

Nothing personal here, but saying "it is a mindset", is a copout, an easy answer to everything, and we all have ours, how about a little more detail on this?

GordonJ

All participation matters, so thank you, and when dealing with opinions, one does not out weigh any other. So thank you for giving yours. Honestly, I didn't understand, maybe English is not your first language? But what I think you wrote is that failure, although may make you feel bad in the short term...

In the longer run, you may be lucky to have gone through it and failure became the foundation of a better tomorrow? I think that is what I got.

You have come to the right place if you have had failure in your life and have survived it, it is an almost universally shared experience with Warriors. Thank you for your comment.

GordonJ

You are right...and here is where it gets tricky; "coming from a Negative Mindset" and ADOPTING a positive one.

See, this isn't done often by throwing a switch, and a light bulb comes on.

There are reasons one has a negative mindset, many reasons and even then...that could be interpretation. A skeptic differs from a cynic, albeit both may share any given idea about the idea of mindset at all.

Most scientists are taught to be skeptical, until they have proof.

The multi billion dollar THERAPY/coaching industry is all about exploring where our mindsets come from and how to change them, if they are deemed to be harmful, hurtful and lead to unproductive behavior.

Therapy could take decades to resolve childhood issues, or to even bring them into the light to be examined. Mental health issues may come into play also, as does trauma.

The problem I have always had with self help, coaching, self actualization, self improvement or whatever label gets slapped onto it these days...IS...almost all start from NOW and go forward, leaving the past behind without knowing where the past came from.

So going from negative to positive, if that is even required, not sure it is...but if it is, it isn't an overnight reaction. It is part of the journey too.

Positivity, by its nature, assures we see more opportunity and we link coincidences in a way to make us tune into our lucky self. I think what you wrote is true, the only thing, the 'ADOPTION' process, takes time.

Finding a 20, winning a drawing, contest (no skill one), sweepstakes or lottery, or a car at the local dealer who sent out 10,000 keys as a promotion...that is a lucky thing outside of mindset, and nothing to do with being positive or negative and everything to do with being LUCKY, right?

GordonJ

Because it hard to get a definite answer on mindset. Like list ten elements of a positive mindset or ten elements of a negative mindset. That are not just single words that themselves are concepts with wide variety of interpretations.

Instead of mindset personally I feel expectation works better. Do you have positive or negative expectations of how things will work out.

Then are those expectations completely based on outside variables that you can't effect. Or are they based on many things you can. While believing the one's you can't effect will work in your favor.

Overtime do you think things will generally get worse no matter what you do. Or do you believe things will get better and take actions to help the process along faster. Being greatfull for the lucky things that you identify. While not keeping a ledger of the large numbers of things that didn't go your way the bad luck.

Good insight.


It goes farther than that.

If you feel Lucky, not only do we see more opportunities and a pattern of luck...we will tend to ignore the bad observations that would support the idea that we have bad luck.

Just as the person who feels they have bad luck, will ignore opportunities that don't support their self image, and magnify any occurrences that would support the idea that they have had fortune smile on them.

It's not only that "We make our own luck", it's that we blot out or forget anything that supports a different version of our self image.

Interesting post Odahh. : ) I think developing a "Learning Mindset" can be helpful. Some People kind of get stuck in the past ... When actually there's almost something they can learn. As I learned from Tony Robbins: "The past doesn't equal the Future."

I'm serious in saying that many studies show that walking makes you happier.

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