Issue No. 11

Let’s say you are fishing on a large pond. You see other people on the other side who are catching one fish every five minutes, while it takes you 40 minutes to catch one. You start thinking, "Wow, they are so lucky to have found the right spot." Then you see them moving to another spot and catching more fish. Meanwhile, you're still waiting for your second fish. You wonder, "How do they know where the fish will gather?" Then you start copying them by moving to another spot. It has already been one hour, and you still haven't caught one. You start regretting moving to that spot. Maybe the previous spot was better because you already caught one there. So you move back. But just as you move back, a little boy comes to your previous spot and catches a big bluegill. You exclaim, "I must be unlucky today."

You might think you were unlucky, but the best way to put it is that you weren't patient enough to afford the requirements of luck. You see, in that hypothetical example above, the other people weren't actually sure where the fish would gather. They just kept trying different spots until it worked. They kept navigating the pond, figuring it out as they went. But you were just in one spot and only moved to another because you saw a pattern from others that seemed to work, but then you immediately regretted it.

This is exactly what separates successful people from those who are not: the successful ones tend to think of luck as a consequence of trial and error. Luck does not occur in the absence of action (except for a heart attack, but even that requires that you deliberately make yourself unhealthy to deserve it).

It's a natural consequence of exploration, of the sheer will to persevere. If you were a boatman and you got lost at sea, given you have enough resources, eventually you're going to find land. But if you just stop on the 13th day and complain about how miserable your life is, do you think you will survive? Do you think, out of nowhere, somebody is just going to come to save you from your own misery? If you think like this, then you're a spoiled little brat who hasn't realized what real life is yet. Nobody is going to save you but yourself. Everyone else is busy trying to catch their breath. Do you really think they have the time or mental capacity to worry about your whereabouts?

This also applies to insecurities and anxieties that you may have about yourself. Sometimes you are so conscious about how you look, which is fine. It’s a consequence of being a self-aware individual. But to be so insecure about yourself is irrational because everyone else is insecure about themselves. If you think people have the time to think about you, you haven't seen them look at themselves in the mirror. Everyone is insecure about themselves; they don't have time to see or even remember your flaws. Just think of a close friend or someone you know. Can you list down the flaws you think that person is insecure about? You cannot list them because you don't know whether they are concerned about them. So you just don't care, really. That's exactly how people think about you.

The interpretation of luck as a magical force that is bestowed upon a chosen few is a misconception reserved for those who want to blame fate for their unfair life. Life is unfair. You have heard that countless times. It is unfair because that's how survival is tested. If life were fair, nobody would persevere toward the edge of human capacity because there would be no natural drive to pursue it. That place is called comfort. When everyone is comfortable, absent of pain and suffering, there is nothing to make you strong when the hard times come unexpectedly.

You have never seen a sailor become a good sailor by staying at the shoreline. You have never seen a doctor become a good doctor without going through rigorous education and training that require the sacrifice of the mind and body. You most probably would not trust an inexperienced doctor to operate on your heart. Imagine riding a plane with a pilot who has flown his entire life for only two hours. Experience is what is respected in our society because it's a testament to knowledge and ability. But experiences have never been given. They were not a result of luck.

You can argue that some people have been born in a good position, therefore they are lucky. After all, rich people have a higher chance of becoming rich, and educated people have a higher chance of leading a stable life. Poor people stay poor because they don't have the leverage that rich people have: time. Poor people don't have time to think of a better life because they are busy thinking about what they need to put on their plates the next morning. However, being born into a certain family or lifestyle is not luck; it's leverage. And leverage can be earned. Some just happened to start at a higher level.

If you think of life this way— as a ladder on which you can climb and become better as you move on— you will catch more fish. And the more fish you have, the more you can sell to improve the other aspects of your life, perhaps to buy a better fishing rod. The more experience you gain, the more fish you catch, the more you improve your situation, and the more successful you become in whichever form you deem it to be. And then, in the end, you realize that luck is not free; you afford it with the cost of experience.

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