Today is your lucky day.
Luck fascinates me. It is always an interesting topic for me. Anything that is related to chance, randomness, or luck intrigues me. This leads me to the following observations.
In today’s world, it is no longer the survival of the fittest, or the strongest or the most adaptable. It is the survival of the luckiest.
There is No Reason for Our Existence on Earth
Only those who are lucky can survive. And those who are extremely lucky, thrive. It goes naturally that those who are unlucky get eliminated. We are the lucky ones. Some species of animals are extinct. They are the unlucky ones.
Environment plays a big role in explaining luck. External factors, that are random and unpredictable, are influencing everyone’s life. Different environment promotes different culture, different atmosphere and different style of living, therefore creating different outcome for different people.
The “weak” (e.g. patients who are very sick) survive thanks to easy access to the latest technology (e.g. medicine). They can then thrive. It is the environment that is the most adaptable that leads to the survival of the luckiest (or the weakest). For people that don’t have access to this modern environment, they die.
Those who have easy access to resources will have higher chance of surviving. Those who do not, disappear.
The riches or those who have the resources can shape their environment. Therefore, change their destiny.
How to Be Successful?
Those who climb to the top are lucky, given the large pool of skilled and talented people that we have. Most people are intelligent and hard working. But only a few are at the top.
What explain their success? What explain the shape of the distribution curve, especially the farthest right corner? Luck. The luckiest are at the farthest right corner of the curve. They have the right opportunities, the right environment, the right background, the right connections, the right timing, etc.
You don’t have to be the best. You just have to be lucky.
Embrace Luck in Your Life
The force of luck is powerful even though you have little control of it. It can push you to the stratosphere or kill you.
Luck favours the prepared mind. You don’t know when luck will hit you because it is random and elusive and hard to “reproduce”.
Don’t be fooled by randomness. Someone living better than you are not necessarily smarter (or dumber) than you. Randomness alone can creates a variety of experiences in this world. Having an open mind could let you see this world more objectively.
Anything could happen in this world. You can be extremely lucky one day if you (are lucky enough to) live long enough to see it.
Get Lucky by Taking Calculated Risk
999 out of 1000 entrepreneurs fail. Those who succeed are lucky. Those who are extremely successful are extremely lucky. Entrepreneurship is never easy.
Most businesses fail. Given this fact, those businesses that thrive and are extremely profitable and seem like making everything right have stroke the life jackpot. They can milk their fortune for several generations or destroy them at their will.
It is not necessarily the best businesses that survive but the luckiest.
You can tap into their “luck” by buying those “lucky” businesses via the stock markets and prosper with them. This is a win-win situation. These businesses get lucky so that you don’t need to be lucky to get lucky.
You need to expose yourself to luck. Luck sometimes can be (mis-)classified as risk.
You increase your chance of success by buying the proven-to-be-lucky companies that have large earnings. This is the calculated risk.
Stock is The World Greatest Asset Class
In such a world that favours the luckiest, there happens to be one single thing that could bring luck to everyone. It is the stock.
Stock represents a business.
Business pays taxes which are used to develop the country and to pay government bond interest.
Business also pays corporate bond interest.
Business pays rent for properties and other real estate.
Business buys commodities (metal, materials, etc).
Business pays salaries.
Business innovates so that we can live a better life.
Business supports all finances in the world. Therefore, it must have the highest returns of all asset classes.
It is lucky for us to have invented the stock market. Within it, everyone prospers. We are lucky because our economic system, which is supported by a variety of businesses, works extremely well.
Most people are working very hard everyday in the system and some get extremely lucky to be rich and therefore can afford to live a different life.
Final Thought
Finally, luck is not that out of reach after all. We are already living in such a lucky environment.
A simple thought that any time and any where in the world, there are some companies that are getting lucky can make me happy because that brings opportunities for all of us.
You can change your life by moving towards where the resources are. One imperceptible small step at a time. By doing so consistently, you increase your chance to success. Over time, you maximise your lucky factor and you could be the luckiest person on earth.
