Handling Good Luck and Bad Luck Well

A few quick thoughts on LUCK: one of my favorite topics. Throughout the course of our lives, we all have an abundance of good and bad luck. It’s inevitable. It’s part of the human condition. What’s wildly important, is handling good and bad luck well, and here’s what I mean.

I’ve studied luck quite a bit. My two favorite research-based books that examine luck are “The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind” by professor/magician Dr. Richard Wiseman and “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All” by business professors Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen. I’ve written blog reviews on both, just for fun. My views on luck have been largely shaped by both books, but the following are my own thoughts and opinions on handling bad and good luck well.

Bad Luck

It’s very important to handle bad luck well. I’m highlighting bad luck, even before good luck, because how we handle bad luck is so key in living a good life. Although we may wish it wasn’t so, we all have bad luck. We will all die someday. Sickness, injury, catastrophe, and missteps are all constant threats. Failures, small and large, are part of life. Oftentimes, we have no control over the unfortunate circumstances we are handed. That’s what I mean by bad luck. It’s tough to accept the reality of our bad luck. It’s also very important to face our bad luck and handle it well.

When making an effort to live a good life, I believe handling bad luck with resiliency can make all the difference. In many cases, bad luck can even be turned into good luck. There are some things we can do to fortify ourselves in our abilities to handle bad luck well.

We must take extremely good care of ourselves. Physically, it’s so important to prioritize physical health, especially by sleeping, eating, and moving well. Financially, it’s important to cultivate good cash flow, control spending, keep accurate records, eliminate debt, and build wealth. Socially, it’s important to nurture respectful relationships and express love. Personally, it’s so important to be nice to yourself. It’s good to expect a lot of yourself, but be kind to yourself, and do whatever you can to cultivate your own strength and resiliency, as you navigate the realities of your bad luck.

Having life in good order helps when the chaos of bad luck hits. If we take excellent care of ourselves, in good times and bad, we have a shot at being resilient, at avoiding crumbling when luck is bad, so we can keep marching forward toward times of good luck.  

Good Luck

On the opposite side of the coin is good luck. Good luck is even more common than bad luck. Thank goodness. So many things work in our favor every day, it’s absolutely mind-boggling, everything from our constantly beating hearts to our electricity-powered homes. Good luck is as common as dirt.

Sometimes we’re really lucky, and we’re hit with a stroke of luck so exceptionally good, we might call it great luck. It’s important to handle our great luck well. I think bad luck is even more important to handle well. But let’s give great luck it’s due. Great luck is where the real magic, joy, and self-actualization exists in life. To live a truly good life, our great luck must be fully appreciated, and respectfully exploited. Fully embrace your good luck. Don’t bother feeling guilty or unworthy. It’s your birthright to have some things go extremely well.

Build your skills, systems, self-discipline, and brainpower, so you can maximize great luck when it hits. You can turn your great luck into successes. Success is something worthwhile to shoot for. When handled well, your success will benefit you, the people around you, and potentially all of humanity. Your success will encourage other people’s success. So allow yourself to enjoy your great luck for all that it’s worth, and celebrate, feel gratitude, capitalize on it, and roll around in the goodness. This is the best stuff life has to offer. Might as well enjoy your moments in the sun.

When a wave of good fortune comes along, be sure to handle your great luck well. Stay humble even when you’re on top of the world, always staying grateful to the many people who contribute to your individual success. Also, be like a squirrel, and stow away adequate spoils of your great luck, so there are ample resources when bad luck inevitably hits again, in small and big ways. Life can be green and lush sometimes. But after all, our individual lives, as we know them, won’t last forever. So we might as well maximize the precious time and the good and great luck we have. It’s possible to thrive despite the inevitable bad luck in life, moment-to-moment, day-to-day, year-to-year, and decade-to-decade.

All the Best

I wish you resiliency in your times of bad luck. I wish for you good luck so tremendous, you call it great luck. I want for you the ability to handle it all well. And I wish the same for myself.