Luck is a form of superstition. We already mentioned how Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as “a meaningful coincidence”. Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo, producing positive thinking and improving people’s responses to events.
“5” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries
Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 36 in Season 3 of “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 29th day of April in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.
“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”
Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year
S3 E35 — This Ain’t No Zemblanity; S3 E34 — Why You’re Susceptible to Subliminal Suggestions Like …; S3 E33 — Do Meaningful Coincidences Really Exist?
Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year
S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas; S2 E35 — Was this Pandemic Year a 1-Off or New Way of Life?; S2 E34 — Why Is This Kicking Off the 4th Industrial Revolution?; S2 E33 — What Happens When Your Business Collapses?
Related from Season One, The Normal Year
S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E35 — Day 35 of My 1-Year Experiment ; S1 E34 — Day 34 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E33 — Day 33 of My 1-Year Experiment
Context
In the Report’s Conclusion Section of The One-Year Natural Experiment we’ve covered meaningful coincidences and synchronicity, now it’s about their second cousin, serendipity or happy accidents as in unplanned, but fortunate discoveries. Diving deeper into Wikipedia I found luck.
Isn’t that what we all hope for? Yeah, I thought so and that’s why this section of the natural experiment’s conclusions is:
Do I Feel Lucky?
“Harry Callahan: You’ve Got To Ask Yourself One Question: ‘Do I Feel Lucky? ‘ Well, Do Ya, Punk?”
There’s Dirty Harry and Harry Bosch. While Michael Connelly’s Detective Harry Bosch doesn’t believe in coincidences I just read a passage in “Black Box” where he drew energy after getting lucky — he knew reporters follow a story which leads to another and another or to a trusted source.
“But Bosch stayed positive. He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number. There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.”
Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later …
“So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away. His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.”
We talk about luck in improbable, negative or positive terms as random or chance events beyond our control which occur all around us.
Luck is a form of superstition. We already mentioned how Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity, which he described as “a meaningful coincidence”.
Some evidence supports the idea that belief in luck acts like a placebo, producing positive thinking and improving people’s responses to events.
Richard Wiseman did a ten-year scientific study… concluding, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune.
His research revealed that, Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles.
They are skilled at:
-
-
-
-
- creating and noticing chance opportunities,
- making lucky decisions by listening to their intuition,
- creating self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations, and
- adopting a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
-
-
-
We’ve heard from two Harrys, a Michael, a Carl and a Richard. What say we turn our attention to four of my favorite Steves?
Evidence
You know Zahnny, I have to disagree with your opening premise. I could agree if you added “but there are certainly ideal tribes which I call Talent Cultures in organizations, and (this is a big and) if you know which of 16 Talent Profiles you can claim, then you can more easily select the best and worst organizations and growth stages to pursue.
To your second Holiday Tau observation — yes, organizational change happens slowly and, thank you that fact alone provided years of consulting fees for me in mature companies heading towards decline, but desperately wanting to reinvent themselves.
“5” Steve Zahn, 51: “There are no ideal groups, though it’s fun to imagine things being better. Organizational change tends to happen very slowly; changing yourself is relatively quick and doing so will affect the entire group.” Scorpio
Random ones that make me want change my sign.
Which way should I interpret your TauBit of Wisdom, Steve? My first take more easily fit this passion project, especially as I write up my natural experiment’s report. But now rereading it — probably influenced by Zahnny — I might reclassify it from practical, project and task orientation to how I went about my role as an external consultant and an intrapreneur in those declining organizations.
“5” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Because you want to make your work the best it can be, you’re willing to entertain new ideas. You’ll banter, twist and play around with your resources. Changes and add-ons will take it to the next level.” Aries
WTF G&G? How lucky am I? All three of today’s Holiday Tau, yours included, describe what was foremost in how I approached my professional career and peeled away the onion layers to find the simplest answer to complicated challenges. Thanks, Steves.
“5” Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “Complex problems may not require complex solutions. However, finding the solution that works may be a long and winding journey that seems complicated indeed! Regardless, stay in it for the long haul and the satisfying end.” Virgo
What’s Going On …
Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll
-
- @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8068 organically grown followers
Foresight
Quality-of-Life
Long-Form
-
- “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge” by E.O. Wilson, an entomologist who studied colonies of ants for their insights. But didn’t stop there, according to The Wall Street Journal, “A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them.”
- “True Believers,” the novel by Kurt Andersen (which seems to precede Fantasyland)? I like how he goes back and forth from now to the ‘60s in which the main character is writing a memoir, but needs “Okays” from her friends who had been hiding a secret for 40+ years that could ruin their careers? Like, what’s my equivalent?
- “Disappearing Through the Skylight” by O.B. Hardison, Jr. which proceeded “Consilience” by a decade. Hardison’s been described as a polymathic renaissance man who wrote, “… Nature has slipped, perhaps finally beyond our field of vision.” What does it mean for “… science, history, art and architecture, music, language, ultimately, for humanity”? This one provides missing chunks of understanding where we came from and where we’re going.
- I enjoy any of the Harry Bosch detective books in the series authored by Michael Connelly. “A Darkness More Than Night,” described “A strange constricting feeling filled his gut. He didn’t believe in coincidences… (It) was a coincidence that even a believer in coincidence would have a difficult time accepting.”So much for detectives, tying up loose ends, relying on their hunches and reordering data, information and witness first hand accounts.
- Or, in “Black Box,” Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch adventure he writes, “But Bosch stayed positive. He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number. There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.” Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later … “So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away. His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.”
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate
CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION
The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips