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What Lucky People Do Different

jonathanfields.com

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Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#31

Post by scrrr »

pg wrote: post #13

"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.

Although the same might be true for solving Sudoku-puzzles. Or taking pleasure in solving challenging problems that have already been solved.

I think the key ingredient is inspiration. I find it not always clear where to look for it. On Hacker News? When traveling? What makes one think "This is something I want to work on." and makes one stick with it long enough? It seems like there's a certain ingredient to personalities that some people have more of while some have less.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#32

Post by kristofferR »

pg wrote: post #13

"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.

Yeah, this is true. However - it is important to not confuse this with the idea of destiny or faith. The dots would probably connect just as well with completely different choices(dots). This could have resulted in a completely different life, but not necessarily any less true/right than where the dots have taken you so far.

I'm just 20 years old and still have a lot of dots to "do" - connecting them will come later in life when I can see where my choices/dots have brought me. This is both exhilarating and frustrating.

I've not made big enough choices to steer me down a certain path yet so I can spend my life doing anything imaginable (from chopping trees in Alaska to founding a F500 company to living on the street). However, not matter what I want to do/archive in life, I can't see the perfect path there. I can't predict the future, I can only look back at the past and connect the dots from there. No matter how correct I do things I'll probably end up in a different situation that what I imagined when I started the journey.

I'm beginning to understand that the planned destination in my life is not the important thing, the journey is. As long as I do my best and work hard on something I enjoy, I'll probably end up in a good situation. It might be completely different from what I dream about now, but I'm confident that it will be a good destination nevertheless.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#33

Post by idlewords »

glenstansberry wrote: post #4

I read something by Richard Branson that said--and I'm paraphrasing--that everyone is given about the same amount of luck. It's all about what we do with the luck when it falls in our lap. Fantastic article.

What else would you expect a very lucky person to believe? For any successful person it's much more gratifying to think you got where you are by being awesome than by being lucky.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#34

Post by sophacles »

krschultz wrote: post #23

The problem with the cliche "look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are happy doing what you are doing today knowing you could die tomorrow", is that for any day I'm not spending the entire time with family & friends, the answer is NO. You can be sure if I was dieing tomorrow I'd not go to work and spend the whole day lieing on the beach. Unfortunately you can't do what you'd do on your last day on earth, because…

Perhaps you are misunderstanding the question. What if instead it was rephrased:

"If tomorrow you died, and someone in the afterlife[1] asked you: 'Are you happy[2] with what you did yesterday?' could you truthfully respond 'Yes.'?".

In that case I would suggest that doing good work, but not to the point of neglecting friends and family, is a good thing to do. It doesn't ignore the reality of the situation but also doesn't lose the forest for the trees.

[1] Ignore here any and all disingenuous BS about the (non)existence of an afterlife, since in this case it does exist strictly as a rhetorical tool. Sadly I must include this disclaimer to prevent random strawmanning from the peanut gallery.

[2] Happy is a pretty nebulous word. Lets say it means roughly: content, satisfied, and generally pleased.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#35

Post by say_ »

nicpottier wrote: post #11

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…

The usefulness of this kind of advice depends on the context. Someone who is in a rich environment for new experiences and opportunities, like college, would benefit from not over thinking. On the other hand, someone who is trying to get into college needs to be very discriminating in order to avoid the pitfalls of bad information(from parents, counselors, advocates for various for profit schools, etc) or short term temptations.

Also, I have to nitpick the party example:

“Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner, and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through the newspaper determined to find certain job advertisements and, as a result, miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there, rather than just what they are looking for.”

What about the people who go into something knowing what they want, and end up getting it? Too often the final judgement of a decision is made after the situation is resolved, with the benefit of perfect information, and not the limited information the person actually had.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#36

Post by gwern »

jmtame wrote: post #18

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.

I've been reading the ebook of Wiseman's book, _The Luck Factor_. It's quite interesting, and Wiseman includes a few exercises where the reader can fall into the same trap (hopefully I haven't spoiled anything by mentioning them).

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#37

Post by wallflower »

dalenkruse wrote: post #6

One of my favorite quotes is this: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." -- Seneca

Seneca and Stoicism might be interesting to the HN crowd:

“There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn.” -Seneca

" Emotions like anxiety and fear have their roots in uncertainty and rarely in experience. Anyone who has made a big bet on themselves knows how much energy both states can consume. The solution is to do something about that ignorance. Make yourself familiar with the things, the worst-case scenarios, that you’re afraid of.

Practice what you fear, whether a simulation in your mind or in real-life.

Then you, your company, and your employees will have little left to keep you from thinking and acting big."

The downside is almost always reversible or transient.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#38

Post by keiferski »

kristofferR wrote: post #32
pg wrote: post #13

"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.

Yeah, this is true. However - it is important to not confuse this with the idea of destiny or faith. The dots would probably connect just as well with completely different choices(dots). This could have resulted in a completely different life, but not necessarily any less true/right than where the dots have taken you so far. I'm just 20 years old and still have a lot of dots to "do" - connecting them will come later…

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#39

Post by hboon »

nicpottier wrote: post #11

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…

I like the movie very much. In other words, be more open and spontaneous and it can help you break out of a rut and have fun in the process.

Re: What Lucky People Do Different

#40

Post by aridiculous »

bhangi wrote: post #10

Whenever I see these kind of articles, two words run through my mind: survivor bias. I'm also unconvinced by the John Galt argument that if Steve Jobs had not taken calligraphy courses, we would not have nice typefaces on computers today. After all, typography predates the Mac and it would have been only a matter of time before someone else figured it out. If you don't believe this, look at practically every major di…

I think you're missing the point. Steve Jobs had a choice of 1000 things to focus on when making a computer and OS. You can't focus on everything, due to time and (brain) memory restraints.

So, because he took those classes, he was convinced to focus on typography as an important element to the OS. If he hadn't, it isn't as likely he'd have been illuminated to the benefits of good typography.

That is, unless you believe in some sort of determinism, where he was bound to fall in love with typography at some point.

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