The title for this post has been sitting in my draft queue for over a year and a half. Yesterday’s post regarding Sacrifices is a great segue into this post regarding what others might label “luck”. As in, “you are so lucky to score that powder day!” or “you are so lucky to be able to dawn patrol!” or “you are so lucky to live so close!”.
Bull shit.
The string of words “you are so lucky…” makes me cringe. Putting aside my deterministic opinions, suggesting that my being in the right place at the right time for the right event is somehow “lucky” fails to place proper consideration on the planning and mindfulness to position myself accordingly. Luck fails to consider the sacrifices and strategy involved with being in the right place at the right time for the right event. It also fails to consider that I get skunked sometimes, too. But that is not being unlucky. That is just the nature of the beast.
It is wonderfully and absurdly ironic to see the world from a deterministic perspective yet still approach life from a focused and mindful perspective of illusionary conscious decision making. It is not destiny, it is not pre-determined, and it is not luck. I put myself at the top of an untracked run on a mid-week powder vacation day through a lifetime of decisions that could not have unfolded any other way.
And on the other so called “unlucky” days, I get skunked. And sometime during the last few years, I forgot to appreciate that as well.
In either case, Amor fati. A fitting motto for this season especially. And of course, life in general. And you can keep your luck.
2 thoughts on “Luck?”
You are a LITTLE lucky. But very successful. I’ll differ with you slightly on this one, especially since you abstracted it to apply to life in general.
Luck always plays a little part in success, either good or bad. In business, it’s hard work, skill and a little luck. Being in business when a new market opens up can make all the difference. In health, it’s a healthy lifestyle and a little luck. Not to be too grim, but you can’t avoid cancer.
You can minimize the luck factor by mitigating risk. You want the odds in your favor. No guarantee, just odds. If you blindly go out to ski without any planning, you might get lucky or you might get unlucky. Going out when it’s pouring rain throughout the region does not mitigate risk – it’s like playing the lottery – the odds are too high: You *might* “get lucky”, but you stand a better chance of being unlucky.
Now, if you’re on a trip on a fine winter day and a storm blows in, you “get a little lucky”. You planned you trip for a time that favored storms, when the weather is good and the crowds are low.
Wishing you, me and every skier and boarder a little luck this year!
Your second paragraph speaks towards odds and mathematics but not luck. Same with your comparison to business. Not luck at all. If you do all the “right” things then you put yourself in a better position to have a favorable result. That takes work and effort. Which is not to say that someone can not randomly hit the jackpot without putting in the work (e.g. once a year vacationing family booking months in advanced and scoring a powder weekend). But generally those that put themselves in position for success are more likely to have a successful outcome. That to me is not luck. That is random outcomes being favorable. And random outcomes being favorable are more likely with planning, dedication, hard work, and understanding what is going on in the environment in question. I can not consider that luck as luck in most contexts implies some invisible hand guiding the situation rather than the planning and preparation that made the result favorable.