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Luck in life

When someone is successful in life, be it in specific dimensions like finances or marriage, or a good mix of dimensions, it usually will attract envy of others, and one common refrain will be "you are lucky lah!"

Well, yes and no.

Yes, in that there are always elements of life which you have zero control over whatsoever. This is the element of pure chance. E.g pure chance that you would meet your future wife somewhere in a social setting where you weren't really looking for a date or someone to pick up. Or pure chance of a job opportunity showing up right when you think your current career is over. Pure chance you were born in a certain country, to a certain type of parent.

No,  in that if you didn't/couldn't seize the chance that showed up, nothing happens. If you are in a mental wreck when that dream job opportunity appears, you won't do well in the interview and the job goes to the other guy, right?

So if someone were to comment on your success as "luck", you must always address it on the spot, not to reprimand, but to set the record straight and make it known to that person that such a statement does not accurately nor fairly represent what had happened in your life. 

I will say "Yes, there's definitely a certain degree of pure luck and chance, but I also worked hard to grab them when they showed up...I am thankful for those chances that showed up without my intention, but I am also glad to know I didn't let some of them slipped past me." This isn't to say I am a better person than you, but I want you to be fair to me and respect my efforts that I put in to be successful in areas of my life as you witness today. I also want you to be fair to your own efforts in your life as well, and not simply discount them as "luck", or whine when things don't go your way because you weren't prepared enough to grab those chances. 

Someone who strike $10M in TOTO? Yes, that is almost pure luck, but hey, you still have to put some effort to buy the TOTO ticket right? Anyway, don't put your life success on gambling, the odds of success is extremely so, near zero. I do buy lottery regularly, but I don't spend more than $10 per month on it. It's more of a cheap game of chance entertainment for me.

I wish you good luck :)



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