I have noticed that some people have extremely bad luck, that no matter how hard they try things constantly go wrong for them, almost like they are cursed. I have also known people who coasted through life and never had to struggle much or go through any great difficulty, things just went right for them. If anyone has seen that simpsons episode with frank grimes, that is one example. Is there any explanation for this kind of thing, what’s your personal opinion on it?
My personal take on this is that people with ‘good luck’ are more likely to spot opportunities and take them.
I don’t know, sandra_nz. Some people have bad luck that has nothing to do with opportunities, and more to do with just the cards you get.
That said, even with a bunch of bad things that happen, a person might have some really good things going on to balance things out.
Apart from making your own luck as sandra_nz suggests, it is in the nature of statistics that some people will have better luck than others. Take 100 people, ask each one to roll a six-sided dice 100 times and add up each of their rolls. If everyone had equal luck, then each person should end up with a score of 350 (average of 1,2,3,4,5,6 * 100 rolls = 350). But they won’t. some people will end up with much less than that, some people will end up with much more. On a really weird day you might actually end up with one guy who gets 100, and another guy who gets 600.
Likewise in life. There are some people who truly are just unlucky. They just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and through no fault of their own than any reasonable person could foresee, bad shit happens to them over and over again. Or the reverse: individuals who aren’t particularly aggressive about pursuing/protecting their interests manage to avoid serious calamity (or enjoy absurd bounty) simply because that’s the way the universe lined up for them.
I think the greatest troubles well face in life might be; loss of ability to work, mental decline, infirmity, loss of a loved one. But these things no one escapes from, lucky or unlucky. No matter how you fare on the lucky measure, come to the end, is it not the above things that really matter?
It’s a mistake to look at others, I think and think we know about their life. You may see lucky, from the outside but the landscape may be very different from the inside. The truth is people do not share their deepest darkest fears, losses, sufferings. People don’t wear such things on their sleeves for you to see and judge.
How do you know the person who just experienced some great good fortune isn’t also destined to lose a child tragically, lose a husband and never find love again, develop Alzheimer’s at 43yrs of age, etc, etc. clearly, you don’t.
All you can ever say is, they have been lucky, at this time, in this specific regard. All else must surely be nothing more than projection, I should think.
Here is a nice brief summary of The Luck Factor by Prof Richard Wiseman. He concludes that while luck is entirely random lucky people conduct their lives differently because they feel that they will be lucky. The differences in their behavior put them in circumstances where they are more likely to benefit from opportunities.
Here Psychology Today discuss the work of Wiseman and others.
That’s an overstatement, but with a core of truth. You can’t prepare for everything, but that’s not a reason not to.
Regards,
Shodan
“Don’t Ask” beat me to it. But yeah, one’s outlook on life has something to do with it. For example: Internal locus of control vs. External locus of control, Learned helplessness vs. Learned optimism, Proactivity vs. Passivity, etc. You can look up all those terms at Wikipedia.
because life isn’t fair
That depends on what you mean by “luck.” It can refer to the truly random variations between people: that the results of random chance just happen to turn out more favorably for some people than for others.
But some people think of “lucky” or “unlucky” as descriptions of some quality inherent in the persons themselves, and take literally things like “his luck ran out” or “this rabbit’s foot brings me luck.” This can bring us into the realm of what many of us would classify as superstitious woo.
Baseball has been bery, bery good to me.
That’s it; c’mon, you, back in your cage.
Sometimes it’s a matter of recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities that work out. Sometimes it’s a matter of recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities that don’t work out.
Both of the above can have snowballing effects on other aspects of your life. Also, what does someone focus on? Someone can look at their smashed house and say, “Dang! My house is wrecked!” Alternatively they might say, “Wow! Good thing my family and I weren’t in there!”
I know a couple people that seem to have bad luck consistently, and I like them but they are frustrating to be around unfortunately. Other than just the random factor I think lack of planning and lack of resources are causes.
What is this ‘luck’ you refer to? What is the mechanism for ‘luck’? If I pulled 100 random people from around the world into one room, how would you identify the lucky ones?
There is no such thing as ‘luck’. Some people are more positive. Some people have advantages others don’t have. It’s not luck.
They’d be the ones who hadn’t just been randomly pulled across the world by some inconsiderate force for no good reason. Or the one dude among them who was coughing up pool water because he’d have drowned if you hadn’t rescued him. He’d be pretty lucky.
A lot of people who know me would say I’m very lucky. If I actually sat down and charted it, its closer to the expected 50/50 split. The difference is I share “lucky events” with those around me and basically just ignore and move on from the “unlucky ones”. I am sure the opposite is also true for some people - dwelling on misfortune and not seeing the good. That clouds the perception of lucky and unlucky and I don’t think its all that unusual as behaviors go.
I went to HS with a girl who within a four year period lost her dad in a farm accident, got in a horrific car accident that left her in the hospital for three months and then lost her mom to cancer.
This has nothing to do with how one deals with misfortune or spotting opportunities or preparation, it’s just shitty luck.