Luck
Just recently I have been reading about luck and whether there is such a thing a lucky person. It’s a big subject, but two ideas stuck with me:
- People interact with so many people and things in so many different way these days that statistically “miracles” happen. If you define miracles as events that have less than a 1 in a million chance of occurring then I read somewhere that most people will hear of one about once a month. That means that people are going to come across someone being very lucky/unlucky , (perhaps 1 in 10,000 chance events), pretty much every day just based on chance.
- The second idea is much more interesting. It seems that people who describe themselves as lucky seem to know more people than those that describe themselves as unlucky. Not surprisingly the more people you know the better the chance that one of those people will be able to help you out in some way, or will know someone who knows someone ….This networking theory although obvious once it’s explained is pretty powerful.
Dr. John G. Kemeny, co-inventor of BASIC, Professor of Mathematics, College President, and huuuuuge sports fan (I once saw him do a probabilty class lecture on the subject of streaks that ended with the words “and so we have proven that Joe DiMaggio could not have existed”) was once asked “Don’t you believe in luck?” and he answered “Not within two standard deviations of the mean”.
-rich schwartz
http://smokey.rhs.com/web/blog/rhs.nsf
Perception of ‘luck’ or rather ‘luckiness’ (is that a good word for ‘being lucky’?) is more prominent in extroverts who, because of their tendency to seek other people and opportunities, become socially successful, thereby feeling lucky. Introverts appear to extroverts as ‘unlucky’ and left alone – but secretly relish their ‘luck’ of not having to suffer the company of happy-clappy individuals from the other side š
but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that extroverts are all, “happy-clappy”, may be they all provide that veneer but as I am sure you know there are many extroverts who suffer badly from poor self image and depression. One of the unhappiest people I know could never stop joking around and displaying what the casual observer would describe as typical extrovert behaviour. No one who knew him would describe him as lucky though.