Chapter 26 5.g Don't believe in "luck", let alone "opportunities should never be missed"

What exactly is luck is a question that deserves special serious consideration.If you can't think through this issue thoroughly, you may waste time because of wrong perceptions -- and examples of wasting a lifetime because of this can be seen everywhere, whether ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign. First, luck does exist.Some people can fly safely for 20 or 30 years and then retire with honor, but there are people who died in an accident the first time they flew.When the Titanic left the port, some people suddenly changed the schedule because of something before leaving, and escaped a catastrophe, but there were a few other people who sneaked onto the ship and finally escaped death.Some people bought a lifetime lottery and finally won the lottery, but found that the lottery ticket was lost, but why would someone buy a lottery ticket for the first time in their life and win the first prize - that is a probability of 1/18,000,000 !

And, there is good luck and bad luck.If the probability of winning the first prize in the Mark Six lottery is 1/18,000,000, but you actually win, then you will "feel" yourself very lucky.Conversely, if, if you actually bought all 18,000,000 Mark Six tickets, and it happened that you accidentally lost the one that won the first prize, then you would "feel" yourself very unlucky. But the question is, why does the probability of 1/18,000,000 make you experience a world of difference?The probability is the same, the difference is your desire.When you feel "lucky", it is because your desires are fulfilled; when you feel "unlucky", it is because your desires are not fulfilled.

Therefore, from a rational point of view, the so-called luck that we can experience is just the feeling caused by the occurrence of small probability events.While probabilities can sometimes be calculated, they are certainly not within your control.Desires, while not always gratified, are not only within your own control, but may even be completely within your control.People who waste time wasting their lives have a common characteristic-they try desperately to control what they can't control at all, but completely lose control where they can really control. Do think about it and remember this: Believing in luck is really a lack of self-control.I have always felt that I accidentally studied probability and statistics during college, which is an accident that has benefited me a lot throughout my life.Reading and thinking during that period made me confirm and accept a reality: probability exists independently of anyone, so there will never be any changes just because of my expectations.Li Zongsheng said in "Song of Ordinary People", "When did you see the world change for people?" I was terrified when I heard it.So, in essence, luck is just a reality that has nothing to do with me.In other words, although luck does exist, I can't believe in it, or, to put it bluntly, I can't believe that luck has anything to do with me.

Such cognition can only make you more and more rational.When you see the referee toss a coin on the basketball court to decide who serves first, you know it is fair; and when you catch a glimpse of some players on both sides closing their eyes and praying, you know their behavior is actually ridiculous and invalid , and it doesn't matter at all.You will always vividly remember that moment when you realized for the first time that you could control yourself by accepting reality and be more powerful than most people just because of it.You begin to understand why so many people are superstitious about blood types and horoscopes, check the imperial calendar to determine their own fortune, secretly sacrifice sacrifices for good omens, or secretly cast curses to hope that the people they hate or hate will die badly.Without exception, it's just another way of being helpless and helpless in the face of a reality that is completely out of your control.

People don't like or even fear things they can't control.Moreover, the more vulnerable people are, the more they want to gain control; at the same time, the more they realize that they have no control, the more afraid they are.The funniest related scene in the movie is when a coward holding a gun tremblingly shouts to his companions, "(Can't you see?) It's under my control!" So, Emerson ( Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Shallow men believe in luck, strong men believe in cause and effect." (Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.) An interesting phenomenon is that all real gambling kings do not believe in luck.They are not always victorious because of "good luck". The reason why they win more and lose less is just because they spend more time and energy on research and calculating probabilities. They just want to win and never gamble.On the other hand, those who actually believe in luck and are willing to gamble are doomed to die badly.

When good luck happens to you, of course you should be very happy; when bad luck happens to you, you should accept it calmly—no matter what you have to live on, of course you have to continue to face things beyond your control.In fact, this is the life attitude that Su Shi summed up a long time ago: "Don't be surprised when it comes suddenly, and don't get angry when it comes to you for no reason." Use this kind of cognition to observe the people around you, and you will probably reach a consensus with me soon.Those who believe in the existence of "good luck" often hope that the so-called "miracle" will appear in order to avoid the embarrassing situation, hoping that the salted fish can turn over easily-they forget that after the salted fish turns over, it is still salty. fish.And those who believe in "bad luck" often do so to avoid responsibility for their past selves.If one is unwilling to take responsibility for existing embarrassments, it is of course most convenient to complain about bad luck.Believe me, if you are open to who you really are, you will eventually find that you are more or less responsible for all the embarrassment you face today.There are so many reasons to believe in luck, French writer and producer Jean Cocteau quipped, “We have to believe in luck. How else can we explain the success of someone we don’t like?”( We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?)

In addition, there are particularly interesting psychological phenomena.If you believe in good luck, your life will not be better or worse because of it.But, conversely, if you just feel like you're unlucky, your life is bound to get worse for it.Therefore, although you should not be blindly optimistic, you must not live with pessimism.The magic is that hard work often really changes a person's luck.Nearly 2,500 years ago, Seneca (Roman philosopher, tragedian, and statesman) made this very clear "Fortune is when you are ready and the opportunity comes."( Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.)

When all the scammers in the world start their tricks, the first step is to do everything possible to convince the deceived that "the opportunity is never to be missed, and it will never come again"; and once the deceived believes that this is a "rare and not to be missed" opportunity, they will Will make irrational choices under the pressure of this kind of thinking.Therefore, don't believe that "the opportunity is never lost, and the loss will never come again".When you are not ready, there is no opportunity for you.Opportunities will appear by your side all the time, the key lies in whether you have worked hard enough to be like Zhuge Liang, "everything is ready, only the east wind is owed".And when you're ready, opportunities are everywhere, and all of them are real and takeable

It is precisely for this reason that we advocate hard work.Although Knight's point is indeed correct: "effort" is the least important factor relative to the other two factors - birth and luck.However, we can see many realistic examples. A considerable number of people, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, have indeed changed their "luck" through "hard work", and then changed the "birth" of their children.