No. 160 - DO YOU BELIEVE IN LUCK?

No. 160

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DO YOU BELIEVE IN LUCK?

Someone once said that LUCK is "when the bread falls on the floor with the buttered side up." It is also "a lazy man's estimate of a workers success." Because there are millions of people in our prosperous nation who base their future and their success on luck, I felt it might be a wise use of our time to dig into this topic a little bit.

I'm sure you have heard this statement before: that man or that lady is the luckiest person in the world. We have all been around people who seem to have the Midas Touch or the Luck O' The Irish and everything they touch turns to gold. Maybe you are this kind of person and if this is the case, I hope your luck never runs out.

To gain a little deeper insight into this word that we all like if it's preceded by the word "good", this question please. What is LUCK? Mr. Webster defines luck as the fortuitous happening of fortunate or adverse events, or simply "good fortune." Now, here is a personal question that I believe will bring what I am saying a little closer to home. Do you believe in luck? Please give some thought to your answer because it may have more effect on your future than you may realize.

While this is a very personal thing, for what it's worth, please permit me to share how I view luck. I believe in luck up to a point. The point being, I'm not going to depend on luck to build my business, make a living or feed my family. If some luck or good fortune comes along, fine, I'll take it and thank the good Lord for it but that's as far as it goes.

The truth is, there are some people who are lucky, like the person who wins the sweepstakes or the lottery. In this case, these people simply beat the odds, a million to one, a hundred million to one or whatever they were. In reality however, for you as an individual the odds are better that you will be struck by lightening than to win a lottery jackpot. The lottery people always put the "winner" on television for promotion but it would take several years if they were to give the same treatment to all the "losers" and put of them on television.

Talking about odds reminded me of the man who was about to get on an airplane for the first time. He said, "What are the odds that there will be a bomb on this plane?" The airline official said, "We have done a study and the odds are a million to one that there will not be a bomb on this plane." This man said, "I don't like those odds." The airline official replied, "Well, if you will take a bomb on with you, the odds are a billion to one that there won't be two bombs on this plane."

But back to the word LUCK for a moment. Most of us who live in this great country consider ourselves lucky to have a job, good heath, a good home and all the other blessings that many of us take for granted. In planning our future however, most of us need to be reminded of some things from time to time. First, we need to understand that luck comes most often when preparation meets opportunity. As I have said many times, the smarter and harder I work, the "luckier" I get.

If you really want to increase your chances for good luck, here is how to go about it. The letters in the word luck stand for Labor Under Correct Knowledge. When we work or labor under correct or true knowledge, the odds are good that we will be far more successful. While we have to make our own decisions, instead of buying lottery tickets or gambling on our future in other ways, I believe we should invest our money in real estate or Treasury Bills or something that has the potential to grow. It's this kind of thinking and acting that will produce a bright future. In short, we can make our own "lucky" breaks by making wise choices. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)