The Tao of Good Luck

Never give up and good luck will always find you.
Falcor the Luck Dragon

 

Luck is not an intangible concept. If it could be defined, luck might be seen as opportunity meeting preparation. In other words, if you take steps in the direction of making something happen, you will be ready when the opportunity presents itself. They say that fortune favors the bold, so lets take it one step further by matching the human penchant for risk-taking with the understanding of how to win the game before you even step up to bat.

 

You win the lottery by luck. You win at poker with skill. Over time, the luck factor gives way to the skill factor as any professional poker player will tell you after they get done feasting on a Las Vegas tourist. You win in the game of life by taking steps to put yourself in the position to make the most of your circumstances.

 

What happens outside of your control is exactly that, what happens out of your control. This really amounts to very little, since you’ve been taking steps to understand yourself and trying to lead the life you want in the past. In essence, you’re constantly changing your luck by embracing life’s challenges.

 

Whether it was learning the odds of a winning hand or understanding which legal statute will win your client’s freedom, your continued practice has gotten you to this point and the rest is up to the universe. Again, you can only do so much.

 

Take note, this doesn’t in any way absolve you of the responsibility of doing the best you can to make things you want them to be. In fact, this should put you on notice that if you want to win the game over the long run, you have to be both smart and lucky. Since luck occurs when you place yourself in the position to take advantage of circumstances, the theory that nothing ventured means nothing gained really applies here. You won’t win the race if you don’t prepare for the marathon, but you won’t stand a chance if you don’t start the race in the first place.

 

Don’t be afraid to go after what you want. Dream what you will and then do the best you can to make it happen. More often than not, luck will find you if you keep taking steps to become successful. The old saying that fits here is that if you shoot for the moon, at least you will land in the stars. In other words, if luck doesn’t go the way you want, at least you’ll be doing what you want with your life and content in the knowledge you have given your best.

 

 

The Dark Knight Destroys Spiderman

As predicted, Heath Ledger and the Dark Knight crushed the world’s favorite webslinger Spiderman, taking in $155.34 million in its opening weekend. Spiderman 3 had the previous record with $151.1 million. In what appears to be the perfect storm of media, publicity, positive reviews, and possibly the biggest superhero following ever, Dark Knight also broke records for IMAX theaters, raking in $6.2 million. Once again, Spiderman 3 held the previous record generating $4.7 million.

 

I can’t wait for my beautiful wife to get home later this week. I’m dying to see this movie after going on the Dark Knight ride at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey over the weekend. I’m definitely psyched to see this one and you can bet your ass that I’ll be going to the IMAX  at the Palms.

We Love Getting F*cked Up

According to a recent study conducted at the University of New South Wales in Australia, United States residents are the world’s top users when it comes to cannabis and cocaine. Apparently, Americans are looking to do a rail or cram a bowl on the regular.

 

Based on World Health Organization data, 16.2 percent of the U.S. population has danced with the “Bolivian Marching Powder” and a whopping 42.4 percent said they had smoked some weed. Our nearest competition when it comes altering our chemical state is New Zealand, heavy on smoking the dank, the New Zealanders do a lot less blow. Only 4.3 percent of their citizens snort lines.

 

The study also says that single young men with big incomes were the ones who get wasted the most. This should surprise no one. A lot of the cats I know that make big bank follow the theory of work hard and play hard. Plus, they’ve got the money to blow on it, so when they cut loose, its pretty sick and you may not see them for days.

 

Interestingly enough, in the Netherlands, only 1.9 percent said they used to Charly while 19.8 admitted to hitting the bong. So much for the theory that countries who have tough  laws on drugs (like the U.S.) are actually succeeding in curbing use and if the home of pot nirvana Amsterdam (the Netherlands) showing low numbers tells us anything, a more relaxed approach (i.e. decriminalization and taxation) is needed when it comes to America’s fascination with getting fucked up. 

 

In case you are wondering, the study was published in the online scientific magazine PLoS Medicine.