Consider a woman who complained that her neighborhood dry cleaner ruined her expensive slacks. “Last month, he spoiled my wool blazer. Last Christmas, he … . It always happens,” she grumbled.
This woman knew she was taking chances with this dry cleaner. She allowed it to happen.
Luck is sometimes the result of taking appropriate action. And, bad luck is sometimes the result of tempting fate.
Say, you’ve been planning for weeks for your next big trip. You got an incredible deal on the day’s very last flight to your destination. On the day of departure, your late-night flight gets canceled. Sure, you’re a victim of back luck—but you invited it. Think about it. Odds are, you’re more likely to have a flight delay or cancellation later in the day because airlines schedule their rosters tightly to maximize aircraft and flight crew utilization. Delays and disruptions from earlier in the day propagate onward to the late flights.
Often, luck has nothing to do with bad luck. “The fault,” as Shakespeare wrote, “is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. Don’t self-sabotage yourself by tempting fate.
Idea for Impact: Bad choices beget bad luck
You have to be lucky to get lucky. You have no control over many outcomes in life, but you can always increase the odds of getting lucky by taking appropriate action. More importantly, you can minimize the chance of bad luck by decreasing its odds.
Remember, a good mathematics student never buys a lottery ticket, and if he does, he never grumbles about not winning the jackpot!