What is Luck and How to Leverage it to its Fullest?

 

“My luck has probably run its course”, “Oh he is still running on beginner’s luck”, “She was born lucky which is why she’s so ahead of me”, “My lucky mascot isn’t with me right now which is why I am not at my best”. These are some of the go-to notions of how we people see luck as.

Luck basically refers to activities that are beyond one’s direct control such as the place of your birth, your genetics, the natural phenomenons, and so on. Some can call it destiny or fate.

Countless people use luck as a shield to hide their failures, mask their mistakes, and shift the blame so that they don’t have to face the grim reality. They misread the ground situation and refuse to see the reality as it is, which is why they keep jacking off their energies pursuing the wrong goals.

Is Luck an Illusion? 

Let’s take two people who are walking down the road and it’s late at night. A drunk driver who was coming from behind them lost control for a fraction of a second and hit the first person and just missed the second one.

So, now is the second guy lucky and the first guy unlucky? Is it destiny, fate, or karma? If we say it’s karma, which has become a lot popular these days on social media, then is it correct to say that the first person did a ton of bad karmas and the second one was a saint who only did well because of which the first guy got hit while the second guy didn’t even get a scratch?

Is there any virtual ‘karma account’ that is storing all our karmas and giving points accordingly, and then some supernatural power from up above the sky is judging us and giving us what our results reflect?

Does it make sense to say that the ‘alleged’ good karma of the second person gave him some kind of invisible protection against that particular accident? 

Is it destiny then? Is everything already preplanned and we are simply acting like puppets without having any kind of control whatsoever?

The problem is that we don’t really understand concepts like luck, fate, destiny, and the law of karma and simply believe whatever we hear from people around us who pretend to know something we don’t. And when we don’t understand them ourselves, we become gullible and prone to making a fool of ourselves.

Anyone can take advantage of our vulnerable situation and can toy with us and we wouldn’t even know about it. Our own uncertainty about concepts like these puts a target on our back which is why it’s of utmost importance to sort them out once and for all.  

The Reality of Luck

The very definition of ‘reality’ is something that can’t be questioned by anything or anyone whatsoever. The fact that water is colorless can’t really be questioned, at least for now. That’s what demarcates reality from beliefs. Beliefs, theories, ideologies, and opinions are questionable, reality isn’t.

When it comes to Luck, it is basically our own interpretation of what happened. There is no black and white distinction here. Two people could go through the same situation and interpret it differently. 

Now, before we dive into the interpretation aspect, let’s first discuss why things happen the way they happen. Is it somewhere written that such and such thing is meant to happen? 

Was it already established that Elon Musk would find Spacex and change the space industry? Did someone decide beforehand that Covid would overwhelm the entire world? Was I predestined to write this blog?

Why do Things Happen the way they Happen?

Two kinds of things can happen to us. One that is in our control and the other that isn’t. 

Creating a company and putting in your blood, sweat, and tears is under one’s control, but the very same company disrupting an entire industry isn’t. Taking precautions, improving the healthcare system, and producing vaccines are in our control, but who would get affected by the disease isn’t in one’s direct control. Starting a blog and being consistent in it is in our control, but how many lives it can influence isn’t.

So, the difference between the two is crucial to understand.

Now, as far as interpretation goes, the control is entirely in our hands. We and we alone can interpret whatever happened to us the way we seem fit. But when it comes to actions that are under our control, we can never claim that we are 100% in control of those actions.

There are simply so many variables in play, that no matter what, we can never be 100% in control of how we wanna act. Even a simple task of going to the kitchen and bringing a cup of water isn’t in your control entirely. 

You can slip on the banana peel and hurt your back, your house’s roof can collapse because of an earthquake, you may get a panic attack or just one of the hundred and twelve other things that could happen. But the possibility of you being able to complete the task is 99.9999999%.

On the other hand, if I ask you to open a company like SpaceX, then what is the possibility of you being able to achieve that? Is it gonna be the same for everyone? Of course not! Now, that plausibility is gonna be different for different people with different experiences. This is the most significant thing to concede.

 

The Right Understanding to Interpret Things

When it comes to deciphering things the right way, you gotta have a clear and calm mind to see things the way they are supposed to be seen. Most of the time the way we interpret things is pretty shitty and is nowhere related to reality.

You lost your job, your health is in ruins and your relationship is in trouble, so instead of wasting time pondering about the fact that your ‘luck’ is not with you, you gotta comprehend the underlying problems and see what you can do to turn the tables as quickly as humanly conceivable.

Just because you heard ‘everything happens for the best’ doesn’t mean you turn a blind eye to a crime being committed right in front of you. You gotta act if you see something illegal happening around you and not indulge in discussions like whether it’s his good luck or bad luck!

If you can comprehend the contrast between what is actually happening and what should be happening, then your interpretation powers can take a massive jump. Once you interpret things in the right way, the way things are actually happening instead of imposing our own narration of how things should be happening, our thinking will automatically be aligned with reality.

And once our thinking is set in the right direction, we will obviously be taking the right actions in life. The kind of action which will be completely absolved of any kind of confusion or dilemma or conflict. 

The second you truly identify the cause of your problem, you will be able to take massive actions in that particular direction to get where you want to. And this kind of action will incontrovertibly give you the right kind of outcomes.

The more control you gain over your interpretation ability, the less power luck will have in your life.

There is no such thing as Bad Luck

If you can understand the previous point completely and actually work on your interpretation skills, the term bad luck will vaporize from your life in thin air, for good.

As of now, the entire world has brainwashed us into making us believe that if we’re not getting to where we want to, then that’s because of our supposed ‘bad luck’. But what they miss out on is the fact that the ‘bad luck’ is actually good luck in disguise.

You failed in your last five businesses and you think it’s your bad luck, your last three relationships were a disaster and you simply perceive that you are unlucky, you got fired from your last two companies and the world is ready to label you as ‘bad luck’.

It’s only when we misinterpret the situation and want to blame someone or something else that we start getting trapped in the whole ‘luck’ thingy.

You failed in your business because you were presenting the wrong product to the wrong market, your relationships failed because you are a self-serving narcissist who doesn’t give a damn about others, you keep getting fired because you simply lack the skills needed to sustain.

There are enough businesses in the world making a ton of profit, there are enough happy couples who are having the time of their life, and there are innumerable numbers of employees working in the very same company you got fired from.

So, it’s a no-brainer that what you are apparently calling ‘bad luck’ is nothing but your own mistakes you don’t wanna rectify, your own misconceptions you don’t wanna amend, and your own inefficiency and incompetence you don’t wanna acknowledge, because you might have to admit the fact that you are not as smart as you think you are.

 

Questioning makes Things Simpler

Instead of questioning why your businesses failed or why your relationships didn’t last or why you got fired from your job, you keep on playing the blame game, blaming your luck, fate, destiny, or whatnot.

Instead of asking how you can succeed in business or how to make a relationship work or how to grow in a company, you simply keep pointing the fingers and eventually develop a sense of envy to people who you think got ‘lucky’ when simply, they are just more competent than you.

People who you think are lucky aren’t actually lucky, they are simply more aware of their surroundings, more persistent with their goals, more hardworking in their life situations, and know more about whatever field they are in than you do. As simple as that.

Essentially if a person removes all his psychic energies from the worldly talks about luck and shit and concentrates it on knowing how to become better at whatever he wants to do, then his chances of cracking the zodiac code skyrockets as opposed to the person who keeps on ranting about how his luck sucks and doesn’t take any action at all.

Things Out of your Control

Till now, we established the fact that if we focus on things that do come under our control and couple it with the right analysis and the subsequent action will almost always result in us succeeding in it. For instance, activities like driving, cooking, and sketching.

But what about the things that are out of our control? Things that simply happen, are they just a coincidence?

Coincidence is simply the occurring of two events happening together without any apparent logic. And people put a label of either good luck or bad luck, depending upon how the situation affected their lives at that particular moment.

You were browsing through your gallery where you witnessed a high school friend who you lost touch with for the past 3 years and suddenly, out of the blue he rings you up and you have a great conversation. Now, you will label that as good luck or would perceive that you have some mystical powers in you.

Another example can be that you are getting late for your office and you are trying to ignite your vehicle but it is out of gas, somehow you managed to push it to the nearest gas station but there is some malfunction there and ultimately you have to leave empty-handed and things just keep getting worse for you. People would generally label this as bad luck.

The thing to understand here is that both of those situations are simply a long chain of cause and effect and nothing else. No incident simply happens all of a sudden. It’s just that we often turn a blind eye to understanding the depth of reality or are simply not patient enough to see this through.

Even Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Weak men believe in luck, Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

 

Coincidence isn’t Luck

Let’s take an example. A couple, happily married for some time, ultimately got separated. So, was this simply a matter of ‘luck’ that the guy met with that particular girl in this whole world and then got divorced? All right so, instead of reasoning it from the beginning, let’s take it from the end as the cause always lies in the past, not the future.

They got separated because they were married in the first place. Easy? Now, why did they get married? Because they met and they liked each other and eventually got into a relationship. So, now comes the most interesting question, why did they like each other only and not the tens of people who came into their life? People generally stop at this point and say that they got lucky that they found their partner. But it’s not actually luck.

They simply struck off with each other because they complemented each other well and were able to cater to each other’s needs and desires. And these desires grew from the abundant information stored in the mind right from their childhood up until now.

The movies you watched, the novels you read, the stories you heard, the characters you observed, the music you listened to, and so on—they kinda programmed, conditioned, and carved you in a particular way. And when you meet someone who fits in your category and fulfills your checklist, you naturally feel attracted to the person who matches your vibe and responds to your energy.

All this is happening subconsciously. There is no ‘luck’ that’s controlling you like a puppet. So, this kinda becomes a cycle. We consume such information because that’s how society is and that’s how we were brought up.

The audience influences the kind of information that’s out there, and the information, in turn, influences the audience, making it a never-ending loop. And once you see this through and backtrace any situation, you will start understanding the logic behind it, instead of calling it luck.

Start Seeing things as it is

Our minds have become so complex that we simply have lost the ability to see things the way they actually are and instead get tangled in our own jumbled thoughts. In reality, there is no space for conflict or confusion. They only prop up, when we start seeing things from our own perspective and standpoint, ignoring what’s real.

A kid is born in a family so poverty-stricken that they are struggling to fulfill his basic needs. Now, one standpoint is where we say that the child is unlucky, his destiny is not kind to them, his past karma is paying him back and all kinds of illusory things. But the reality?

Well, the reality is simple and easy to grasp and can’t be questioned. The child was born in a poor family because his parents are poor. His parents are poor because they were also born in a poor family and they kinda accepted their fate and simply let things remain as it is without even trying anything. It’s that simple. Can anyone possibly challenge these facts?

That’s just one example. You can apply the same kind of reality filter in each and every situation you think is controlled by ‘luck’, and just observe how straightforward things actually are.   

You become mature, not by feeding a bunch of knowledge from books and schools, but by seeing the reality as it is. And your understanding of life deepens when you actually pick up the pieces the way they are, untouched and whole. But the simplest of things like these are the hardest to grasp and accept because it’s perhaps boring. That’s the funny irony of life. 

 

You are not a Separate Entity

The whole notion of believing in luck, fate, or karma is because we all consider ourselves a separate entity that is distinct from this universe. And due to this, we live in our own illusory world where we believe all kinds of bullshit.

But what if you could come to realize that your own notion of you being different from this universe is nonsense and in reality, we are all interconnected and interdependent. Simply put, your actions are gonna affect the entire world, and the actions of the entire world are gonna affect you.

Your own actions alone aren’t solely gonna direct what happens in your life. So, come out of “I, me, and myself” and start thinking in terms of ‘we, ours, and us’. That will further narrow down the concept of luck in your life. And when you actually start living like this, the level of your actions is automatically gonna take a massive jump because you know that your actions aren’t just gonna affect you, it will affect others too.

You have to make sure your actions aren’t affecting anyone in a bad or deteriorating manner because you also know that other people’s actions are going to affect your life down the line. 

Simply shifting our vision can bring about a massive change in our lives and the lives of the people around us. Even if a handful of people start acting in the right direction, then the impact they can bring about in the coming years will be massive.

You are in Control

Many people would feel powerless when they see this reality that they are not in full control of what is gonna happen to them.

Your business can fail even after you tried your 100% as it depends on a lot of other factors, your relationship can fall apart even after you become the best lover in the world as there are two people involved, you can always be fired from your job as there will always be a boss above you.

But what nobody can take away from you, is your reaction to what happens to you. That’s the only thing in the world that you can safely claim to be absolutely yours. As long as you exercise your true powers, there may be things out of your direct control, but you are going to be fine in the long run because you have come to terms with what you can and can’t do.

You can either quit or build a new business, you can either give up on love and get depressed or you can work upon yourself, you can either think you are a worthless loser or you can get down to improving your skills and get a new job.

The minute you apprehend that you are in control of what your actions are gonna be in the underlying situations, that’s when you start creating your own luck.

 

 

 

You don’t get lucky, You either create your own luck, or you go home empty-handed.