Why do we call some people lucky whilst others not so lucky? Why some people lead happy, successful lives whilst some face frequent failure and sadness? Why do some find their perfect life partner and lead a happy married life, whilst others stagger from broken relationships? What qualifies some people to have successful careers whilst others find themselves in dragging careers? We all depend on our luck factor often in our life.
So what does luck really mean? Many studies have found that what a person might perceive as “luck” has more to do with psychology than possibility. Luck is actually positive attitude that keeps one open to new opportunities and chances in life. When the ball hits a post in soccer, the commentators often say the striker was unlucky. In cricket a batsman hits six runs if the ball does not bounce before passing over the boundary in the air, and then touches the boundary or the ground beyond it and the batsman is called lucky.
Is luck factor sensible? Do some people have more of it than others? I think there is a perfectly reasonable way of making sense while talking about luck. Famous Hindi film music composer O.P. Nayyar was a great believer in the “Time” factor; he used to say, “Adami ka waqt chalata hai, adami nahi chalata”. In later years, he always claimed that it was his time (1954 to 1958), and his zenith came in 1957 to 1967 when he composed music of films, the movies usually became hit. The financers of the film, used to invest the money as soon as the producer told them that OP was the music director of the film. They would buy the distributing rights in a jiffy, without giving a second thought about other factors like star cast, film director etc. But, Nayyar’s last days were distressed, his waqt chalata hai philosophy did show that luck always doesn’t favour.
In one of the freak incident of luck, four beggars won big after a scratch card was handed to them by a charitable gambler drew 50,000 euros ($59,000), French lottery operator FDJ. The four men in their thirties were begging outside a lottery shop in the western port city of Brest when a departing customer handed them a scratch card purchased for one euro. What a surprise for the four young men when they discovered a win not of five euros, but of 50,000 euros!! Though the incident is freaky, the four beggars turned lucky.
Luck seems obvious to me when we read/hear narration from a passenger who was to travel on a particular flight and misses it due to getting late to airport and that particular flight crashes killing passengers and crew on board….. Here’s how I understand luck. I think something is lucky for a person if two things are true of it; if that matters to him, and it might easily not have happened. To say that something might easily not have happened is to say that things were very bad at the time just before, the event might well not have occurred, but, the result turns out to be positive.
Lucky people are not born with the property of having lucky events happen to them. Whether I am lucky in doing something depends on how skilful I am at doing things like that. If I master the craft, I am always lucky. So, roughly, the more often something happens to someone, the less luck is involved.
Well this incident does prove that luck favour some people more easily. Barnett Helzberg Jr. by 1994 built up a chain of highly successful jewelry stores with annual revenue of around $300 million. One day he was walking past the Plaza Hotel in New York when he heard a woman call out, “Mr. Buffett” to the man next to him. Buffet is the globally famous as an investor. Helzberg had never met Buffett, but had read about the financial criteria that Buffett used when buying a company. Helzberg had recently turned sixty, was thinking of selling his company, and realized that his might be the type of company that would interest Buffett. Helzberg grabbed the opportunity, walked over to the stranger and introduced himself. The man did indeed turn out to be Warren Buffett, and the chance meeting proved highly fortuitous because about a year later Buffett agreed to buy Helzberg’s chain of stores. And all because Helzberg just happened to be walking by as a woman called out Buffett’s name on a street corner in New York. Helzberg’s story illustrates the effect of luck.
Good luck plays a vital role in our lives. Stanford psychologist Alfred Bandura has discussed the impact of how chance encounters and luck on people’s personal lives. Bandura noted that occurrence of a chance determines the life paths; which often arise through the most trivial circumstances. He supports his case with several telling examples; one such example is in 1949 Nancy Davis’s name was on an industry blacklist of Communist sympathizers. Suspecting a mix-up with another Nancy Davis, her maiden name, she sought the help of the president of the Screen Actors Guild, Ronald Reagan, for help. The list actually referred to another actress of the same name, but it was preventing Davis from finding work. Her meeting with Ronald Regan turned into love marriage within a year. In 1980 Regan went on to become President of America and Nancy the first lady! Luck is another name of miracle.
