by with Comments Off on Luck

Today’s thought comes from The Richest Man in Babylon. It is from the parable titled “Meet the Goddess of Good Luck”. In summary, the only way to be consistently “lucky” is by recognising good opportunities and taking action.

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Financial Shortcuts

You can read a bit more context about the book here, but basically, the Richest Man in Babylon, Akrad, is trying to pass on his financial knowledge to the other citizens in the hope that they can all become wealthy and build a prosperous city. One man said he had just been lucky and found a wallet on the ground with some gold in it. If he could find gold on the ground every day, he would become a rich man. Whilst this man had good luck today in finding the gold, it is very unlikely he will be able to find gold on the ground often enough to become wealthy. The men discuss some other ways in which they can encounter good luck.

What if they bet at the casino? Surely they could quickly become rich? In their casino game, a dice had 5 blue sides and one red side. If it rolled red, you won 4 to 1. If they rolled enough reds, they could become rich. But Akrad quickly points out that they had 5 chances of losing, and only win 4 to 1, meaning the casino wins 20% of every dollar bet. Whilst we don’t play this dice game today, the odds at a casino are always skewed in the house’s favour.

What about the races? You can get lucky at the races and become rich? No again. Betting on the Babylonian horse races is not a reliable route to wealth.

Luck – The only reliable way

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The only way we can actively encourage luck is by recognising strong opportunities and taking action. We must be able to find good opportunities. Those that add value to others. Those that will lead to an increased payout. When we find these opportunities, we need to take ACTION. Procrastinators miss opportunities; “opportunity waits for no man”. If you see an opportunity, please don’t procrastinate. Go ahead, take action, and a little good luck might come your way.

 

“Men of Action are favoured by the Goddess of Good Luck” – George S Classon

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