Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Today is Friday the 13th...you know "unlucky" Friday the 13th.

Which begs the question...do you believe in luck - either good or bad?

Please explain.

Dale King

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

I believe luck (or the lack thereof) is an attitude. 

There was a study done by a guy in England he found that people who considered themselves lucky were more open and observant to opportunities around them.  For instance, they dropped money on the ground.  Some picked it up, some didn`t.  The ones who passed it by without noticing it almost always said they considered themselves to be "unlucky".  Those who noticed and picked it up almost alway said they were "lucky" people. 

I think it`s true - lucky people are people who can think on their feet, network and adapt.  We make most of our own luck!

A company I work with will be featured in O magazine`s FAVORITE THINGS list in the fall.  It might be called lucky, but it was really opportunity.  One of the daughters of the founder happened to be contacted by Gayle King, Oprah`s friend, to be interviewed on her radio show about being assaulted.  She took this product with her to the studio and at the end of the interview, she just placed it on the table (taking advantage of the opportunity), Gayle went NUTS and said, "Oprah would LOVE THIS!"  She took it to Oprah and now they will be in the magazine.  That`s really not "luck" - it was opportunity that was taken advantage of. 

~Kim

 

ScrapBizKim... I agree with everything you said.  I also believe there are situations that can only be described by luck. I am not so lucky. Yet I can point my finger to places of my past and say, "Damn. I was lucky! 


-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Using your logic, let me throw a hypothetical situation at you:

It`s the dead of winter, cold and icy. You`re driving down the highway when suddenly you see a big truck approaching. As the truck passes by, a huge chunk of ice flies off the hood of the truck and smashes your windshield.

Did your attitude make that happen?

Dale King

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

I don`t think that has to do with luck or lack of luck.  It just happened.  We had a construction truck throw a steel beam at us on a freeway once.  We thought it was going to go right through the windshield, but it bounced on it`s edge and headed to the shoulder at the last possible second (just before the clean underwear no longer mattered).  IMO, it wasn`t luck, it was a higher power not being ready to have me yet - LOL!  I call it blessed. 

~Kim

 

Nothing just happens. In my opinion, you were extremely "LUCKY."

Dale King

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

I don`t think anyone is a "magnet of misfortune".  I believe luck is a matter of perspective.  My SIL and her family were hit head-on in a snowy canyon in Utah by a driver who thought the speed limit was appropriate given the road conditions and tried passing a bunch of creeping cars.  The driver of the other car died and my SIL and her family were only slightly injured.  Instead of feeling unlucky that the girl passed right at the moment they were coming and therefore THEY got hit, they felt lucky to have only sustained minor injuries.  Verses others who would spend the rest of their lives fearful of ever leaving their homes again in winter because they felt "unlucky" driving in snow. 

People who consider themselves lucky (according to the aforementioned study) know how to make lemonade out of lemons and have a cheeful attitude and positive perspective on life - no matter what comes their way.  Those who consider themselves unlucky will hold a never-ending pity party for the lemons they are handed. 

~Kim

Hmmmm...let`s just agree to disagree. I`m okay with that.

Dale King

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

I assign 2% of life to luck.

There was a totally fascinating experiment run awhile back, I think in Canada (but not sure on the location). They took some baby chickens, which you may know, being birds, "attach" to the largest moving object they see when their eyes open. They believe that object is "mom."

Ordinarily, the largest moving object IS mom!

They put two groups of chicks in two different rooms. In one, they had an adult hen. In the other, a mechanical box on wheels. The microprocessor in the box was set to mathematical random movement. In other words, the box would move in a mathematically random fashion, all around the room.

The chicks in the second room were in a cage. They hatched, saw the moving box, and called it "mom." Then they became distressed, wanting mom to be near them.

What they found, repeatedly, is that regardless of the randomness built into the movements of the box on wheels, it tended to approach the cage *far more often* than probabilities would alllow---significantly more so!

There are countless articles and experiments, all of which go way beyond fanciful, to present enough evidence that our mental energy modifies our surrounding environment. Why so few "mainstream" scientists accept this as a legitimate area of inquiry, I think has to do with politics.

Dear Dale,

I`m guessing that not only do you believe in the existence of the luck phenomenon, you believe yourself to be unlucky.  It`s just a guess--I am always open to the possibility of being wrong...

I`m also guessing that you might want to talk about it...?

Lay it on us!


-------------------------

"Ask not, know not." --Me