Can you ever know your luck?

[unrepentant progress]

Few of us like to dwell on the role that luck plays in life. Think too much about luck in the context of your past accomplishments, and it's ego-bruising: it suggests that you might not be as talented as you believe. Looking into the future, meanwhile, it's a scary reminder of how much is outside your control. This must be why people come up with such nonsense as, "You make your own luck." A comforting thought. But the problem (to quote Alan Partridge's assessment of another saccharine phrase, "If you love someone, set them free&quot is that "its logic is plainly horseshit". Luck is that aspect of events you can't influence. If you can influence it, then, to that extent, it's not luck. "You make your own luck" just means that you can reduce the role of luck by developing certain skills. But here's the truly scary part: even that's not true. In all sorts of situations, it turns out, more skill leads to a greater dependence on luck. No, really.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/27/change-life-make-your-luck

Note: This is a very short post, so I'm just excerpting the first paragraph. There's only three more paragraphs at the link.

[Newest Reality]

1. What luck it is to

come across this article that talks about luck, which is why I read the article.

Lucky me!?

Did I luck out?

[unrepentant progress]

2. Perhaps you made your own luck by choosing to regularly visit DU? ;-)