Maggie's Farm

How much of what shapes our lives is luck and serendipity? Most of us have met our spouse by chance, and many even have their jobs or even their careers by stumbling onto something.

On Maggie's Farm, we like to view life optimistically as an endless conveyor belt of opportunities, but with few of them passing by more than once. Thus do we necessarily accumulate regrets over time.

But what is luck made of? What is Fate made of?  In part (and only in part), it is made of these ingredients:

"Character is destiny." - Sigmund Freud

"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur

"You make your own luck." - Ernest Hemingway

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."  -Thomas Jefferson

"I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often."  - Brian Tracy

"Suit up, show up, and shut up." - AA aphorism, and the closely related Woody Allen quote: "Eighty percent of success is showing up."

This topic came to mind as I reflected on our corny but deeply true QQQs on persistence.  Persistence tends to work because it works on a statistical basis. If a fellow hits on enough gals in the pub, he'll eventually get lucky.

Of course, knowing when to fold 'em is part of wisdom too. Sometimes sunny optimism is plain stupid.