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What Lucky People Do Different

jonathanfields.com

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Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#11

Post by nicpottier »

Ok, this one is a bit funny, but I swear, one of the movies I think everybody should watch and take to heart is "Yes Man".

I know, I know, you are thinking WTF, Jim Carrey is the messiah? (no that's Bruce Almighty)

But it illustrates an important point, a point that I think software engineers are far too likely get trapped into because of our particular makeups. Which is that risk, spontaneity, just going for it, is what life is all about. And the crazy situations those experiences put you in will make you a richer person, both figuratively and literally.

The quote from the article about the party pretty much nails it. Just go with it, say yes to most everything, stop over thinking and go for it.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#12

Post by kalendae »

a subtle but important distinction has to be made. the experiment mentioned in the blog shows a correlation between people who claim they are lucky and the fact they found a text snippet. not people who are lucky (if that is even possible). it could very well be caused by the fact that a test subject just told people they were lucky so psychologically they behave differently. if the experiment had been setup with no 'lucky finds' the ones claiming to be lucky could all take longer because they were less focused on the counting.

to then tie the subject of steve jobs who is very successful to this finding and attributing the success to being spontaneous seems to jump quite a bit in logic that is not supported by the experiment.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#13

Post by pg »

"Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later."

I've found this particularly true. As long as you're working on something interesting and difficult, you're probably not wasting your time, even if you can't see yet where it leads. It will be an ingredient in something.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#14

Post by emehrkay »

I've been living heavily by the mantra "Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness," and it has been serving me very well. Anytime anyone brings up luck, I tend to point out how that person was ready for that phase in life.

This is one of the key things that I teach to my son (and the fact that talent can be interpreted as a deep understanding of a subject) so that he'll see that he has some since of control over his path in life and everything isn't decided by some outside, unknown force. I'd feel like I would have failed as a parent if I ever hear him utter "Man that guy is so lucky, wish it were me."

I think that this article illustrates those two points very well, just look at every "lucky" occurrence and you'll see an opportunity with someone that is prepared to take advantage of it (even lottery winners :).

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#15

Post by hoag »

powerslave12r wrote: post #7
hoag wrote: post #2

I agree completely with this article. Every year that goes by, I'm absolutely staggered at the ridiculous luck, serendipity, whatever you want to call it, that I have experienced in all aspects of my life. And I definitely attribute it to having an open and light-hearted (yet focused) approach to life: I have just always believed that if you do your part, the right thing will present itself. You just have to recogniz…

Your comments confuse me. I have experienced both phases of life - lucky and unlucky as in the article. My darkest hours were during the "unlucky" mindset and I indeed consider them the best days, but I don't see what you're trying to say. If you claim the best hours were the darkest, are you saying you were in the lucky mindset during those?

Dude. Talk about over-analysis fail. I wasn't really saying anything complicated. All I was trying to explain was that, because I've always approached life so positively and with an open mind, even those times that seemed "darkest" -- in quotes, no less! -- I simply pushed on, positively, and assumed they would be for the best.

And they were. Hence, I was lucky. As always.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#17

Post by baggachipz »

hoag wrote: post #16
baggachipz wrote: post #9

-ly. DifferentLY.

Agreed. I guess some people (and companies) just like to "Think Different.™" :)

Yes, but that's a clever double-entendre in which they encourage thinking differentLY, as well as encourage you to think about their product, which is (supposedly) different. Aaaaand now that I've killed the joy in this, exit... stage left! poof

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#18

Post by jmtame »

I have been looking for the original research done using the newspaper for a while now. I remember reading about it before and I always wanted to refer back to it but never found it. Glad to read this again.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#20

Post by rick888 »

emehrkay wrote: post #14

I've been living heavily by the mantra "Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness," and it has been serving me very well. Anytime anyone brings up luck, I tend to point out how that person was ready for that phase in life. This is one of the key things that I teach to my son (and the fact that talent can be interpreted as a deep understanding of a subject) so that he'll see that he has some since of control over hi…

I find that the people that attribute success to "luck" aren't willing to through the sacrifice and hard work to make it happen.
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