*promote something we should all keep in mind

Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Friday, August 28th, 2020 8:41am PDT - promote requested by original submitter eric3579.

I think it was just pure luck that all the other sperm were hung over from the night before and I got the golden egg.

Go my luck, Go my luck, It's my birthday!

(its not actually my birthday, just sayin')

In most things, it's better to be lucky than good (at tasks.)

i've been saying for a while now that you need luck to be successful and people hate that idea.

success can be from:
luck + hard work
luck + no hard work

but lack of success can be:
no luck + hard work
no luck + no hard work

so without luck, there is no success. hard work is just a multiplier.

You have to be prepared for luck to have a chance to help you.

I think a good thing to point out in the astronaut example is how many people got the job who WEREN'T hard working, in line with what @vil says, and in general no hard work + luck doesn't help you unless it's a no competition environment (like winning the lottery or being born to the right family/country).

It's rare to find someone that is successful but not hard working.

Steve Harvey had a really good message about it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaVWgNH0GRU

I'll agree with the importance of the concept of luck but I don't believe in it. God has a plan for all of us, nothing happens by chance. God also calls us to work hard.

Not really.
Babies born into rich families without genetic flaws are lucky right off the bat, no preparation needed.

Odd since your positions are so consistently diametrically opposed to the teachings of God, the bible, and especially Jesus.

If there's no luck but is God, you are in deep shit.

Another point – to facilitate a discussion, I think we all assume that hard work is intrinsically beneficial. It is sort of a control we have to accept to engage with the valid idea of this video.

However, all hard work is not necessarily good for society or how we define success for us individually. For me, a good example is how I went about dating and eventually finding a lasting relationship that I’m happy with. I really did work hard on myself and my communication skills, but if you took a snapshot of wherever I was over the course of probably 15 years, I think much of my hard work might have been counter-productive. But then, look at it from the “success” point, and the hard work had a clear line, giving me the experience/education I needed to get to where I am.

And then, who is to say that in another ten years my ideas of success won’t evolve revealing that this current moment is another step towards a different goal?

Forgive me if this seems like a non-sequitur, but hand-waving “God has a plan” undercuts thinking about any of this clearly. At best, it cannot matter. If you cannot know the plan god has for you, and puny mortal minds cannot possibly figure it out, then what does it matter? Taken to worse extremes, it leads to the misunderstanding the video seeks to counter. “Since god planned it, it must be okay” is a half-step away from “I earned all of this with my hard work alone”. And, inserting god in there is even more insidious because you are replacing the idea of hard work with divine intention, or at least tacking it on so that it undercuts any argument against the status quo.

no one is injecting god into the equation. randomness is a real thing. sometimes that randomness benefits individuals. we call that luck.

Are you saying @Jesusismypilot is a no one, a nobody?

Jesusismypilot says...
...
I'll agree with the importance of the concept of luck but I don't believe in it. God has a plan for all of us, nothing happens by chance. God also calls us to work hard.

IMO, As someone who is successful at life with little to no effort, I'll say luck plays a HUGE part in my success, way more than working hard if that's even a factor.

I own my nice home and 3/4 acre yard outright, and 4 cars, a racecar, a pond I can swim in, solar power, orchard, etc.
Most of the money that bought these things came from the luck of being born into a fairly wealthy family and outliving a few. I broke my back at 31 and essentially retired.
I feel like I'm more successful than most Americans financially and elsewise, with zero debt, multiple assets, a long and stable marriage, etc....and I feel I've put less effort into achieving these things than most people. The only logical explanation I can come up with is luck, including the luck of my birth with decent genes and money for nothing.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, kir_mokum. That is exactly what I was referencing.

More to the point - while I agree that the video didn't go there, the discussion in the comments did. The impact of religious ideas on every aspect of society is very real. Luck may seem like an obvious concept, but someone discounted it in favor of their belief that god has a plan for all things in the thread. Obi-wan was a cool guy, but his universe had some very different rules from ours.

excellent video!

it's like the observation...if hard work was the only key to success the parking lot of home depot would be full of millionaires.

along this line...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF4JCmqF6ec

science helps prove things poets have known for millenniums.

Not all of them, only the ones that are able to take advantage of the situation, to adapt. Many live and die miserable anyway.

I was thinking more in the line of what does one do to be successful? If luck is so important is the most effective path to just wait for luck? Obviously not.

You have to prepare yourself to be able to take advantage of opportunities in life and/or adapt to disasters.

Oh and there is no intrinsic value in hard work.

Only useful work matters. Trouble is what is useful is hard to tell and sometimes it is a matter of luck.

It's simple. If you're happy, you've succeeded. Do what makes you happy. Save your world here on earth.

So that's another way luck out preformed hard work for me.

I'm just proving that it's not an absolute. Some people find pure luck with zero effort. On average, you do best with both, but there are exceptions.

For a certain few, yes, waiting for luck can be the best method, not for most.

That's certainly the intelligent method, but no, you don't HAVE to prepare yourself, sometimes success just falls in your lap.
For example; It took zero preparation to be prepared to inherit money, not one whit, pretty damn lucky if you ask me.
Second example; most people require preparation to be successful at tests. I took the GED 1 1/2 years after quitting school to work, I didn't prepare one minute, I scored 98 percentile on every test in the pack. That's not from hard work, it's from being lucky enough to have a functional brain and decent memory...I didn't work hard in school, I always claimed to learn by osmosis, I was in AP classes when I left to go work.
Third and most obvious example; Through pure luck, I was born white. I find that to be incredibly lucky considering the roadblocks being any other race puts up, especially in America, especially in the deep south where I was raised, even more so in recent years but it's always been true. I certainly didn't work hard to achieve whiteness, I've worked hard to not take advantage of it at other's expense, probably unsuccessfully.

Some people don't even NEED preparation to succeed during disasters, you often just need to be flexible and quick to adapt, that a might be from preparing, or might be natural traits you're born with.

i really like this video. the last few words are mammoth...'do what you can to increase the luck of others'.*

that's a meaningful endeavor. with huge pay-offs.

doing what can be done to level the playing fields would ensure the continuation of our country, in success and strength. does us little good to do little good for those who had little good available to them.

isn't just good feelings, it's good sense.

Private Joker you are the new squad leader!

https://youtu.be/gYxEIyNA_mk

Luck, shmuck. I have an issue with the snatoms; how do you make a double or triple bond? It was simple with the old fashioned ball and spring things.

I dont subscribe to weird oriental religions which presume being born is a lottery that possibly includes trees and butterflies.

Every person is born to a set of parents into a particular time and place and socio-economic position. That is what defines who you are. You cant say "if I was born black" because that would not be you.

That is not luck, that is your starting line. You race from there, that is where YOU start rolling the dice and having good or bad luck.

You may consider yourself lucky to be who you are and where you are, indeed you may feel some first world shame for being so fortunate, but that is surely superfluous, if you have too much you can offer to help other people.

Humans (unlike newts) need preparation, after you are born you need to practice for many years before you can be let out into the wilderness of modern civilization with any hope of surviving, let alone passing tests.

You remind me of my son, he spent his childhood reading encyclopedias and now he is surprised that he knows everything and other people dont. It came easy to him.

I did not have to work hard most of the time, am doing fine, got most of what I have because I was lucky, but I sure had a lot of opportunities run away from me because I wasnt prepared for them. Also got burned by a lot of things I should have been prepared for.

Waiting for luck is good only if you run out of options to do something.

Subscribe to what you want, my birth lottery included trees and butterflies, I was raised in a forest in a glass house in a forest. (We had an atrium inside with a forest of trees growing through the roof, and the house was in the middle of a forest)

If I were born black, that person would be me, but I would be different. Besides, I was born a poor black child, sir. ;-)

If my starting line is 50 meters ahead of yours in a 100 yard dash through nothing but luck, that's pretty lucky for me.

I feel pretty successful having made little effort to get there, that's luck.

I don't feel shame because I'm not a normal American that thinks anything they want is something they deserve and need. Best lesson my dad ever taught me was know the difference between want and need and you'll be far happier in life. It's true.

I don't have too much, I have enough, but I still share with those who i feel don't. I've housed multiple friends for free, and even let one live in my yard for 7 years, which in retrospect was at least 5 years too many. My wife and I live comfortably on <$30000 a year. Most Americans can't live on that for one person. Newts do just fine, we take a vacation every year, pay our bills, and eat well.
Maybe that's why I'm so different. I was allowed to roam the wild woods and bayou alone at just over 3, to the point where the neighbors told my parents they were going to call the cops. This was in the middle of Houston, literally a wilderness of (or at least in) modern civilization. ;-)

I did go to school for 24 years (preschool -the ten year plan at Jr college) but never tried hard or practiced, to the point where my trig teacher insisted I was cheating because I didn't pay attention or do homework so she separated me for a big test, the class average dropped a full grade but not me, my neighbors were cheating off me. She left me alone after that. That might be preparations, but it wasn't hard work. It was boring busy work.

I did that, read encyclopedias and dictionaries. That was punishment at my school through 7th grade....but my grandmother read her set through twice for fun. My mother was called "the encyclopedia" in school, with good reason.

I definitely let opportunities pass often. Sometimes because I don't need them and others might, sometimes I'm just lazy and happy so see no need to expend effort, usually because I see opportunities as traps, the bait being some modest short term gain, the cage being large long term obligations. I'm always prepared for opportunities that are for me without preparation. I'm not Trumpian, I understand I have limitations, and don't tend to obligate myself beyond them.

Who said I waited. I've been lucky enough that I didn't have to wait for, nor do I expect luck. Through luck, forethought, and decent planning things have worked out well with minimal effort or sacrifice. I don't rely on luck to dig me out of holes, I tend to watch my step and not fall in them often. You might call that preparation, I call it paying attention. It's working so far.

I get it.

https://youtu.be/5NeS4ueaU6w

God having a plan brings hope and peace. The world's general definition of success is fleeting and oftentimes a hamster wheel with no end that leaves people empty and broken, resting in the fact that God has a plan and will provide sets one free.

What if you discovered that "God" is the character name given to the person reading the book? How would that change things?

As in "Thou art God, I am God, all that groks is God."?

I can live with that. *high five*

Edit

Moral of the story: Believe in yourself.

Better moral to me: Rely on yourself.

I know that's not the message from the book. I barely remember, wasn't it more "we are all one"?

We? "There can be only one."

Edit

There are (checks notes) 7.8 Billion worlds on earth. Each one at some point sending out an SOS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRRSRNDuu98

I think bob relies on himself. It may take some time for him to believe in himself.

I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, Rely on God.

I think he relies on Trump and co. Since he believes in them implicitly and believes what they tell him, by extension he does believe in himself.

Wow, really? I've heard dozens of variations, trust in God probably being used more, but rely on God too. I'm surprised you don't see it on bumper stickers down there on America's wang.

Florida. The Flaccid State

I think we just made a new bumper sticker!

There is but one and I am legion.

The book's message was any sentient being is God, God is one, therefore we are all one, both part of a whole and the whole. It was a confusing book.

In that respect:

"The bleeding hearts and artists make their stand."

That didn't work out very well in Star Trek V.

I missed that one. Do tell.

Well, it's sort of what the whole movie is about... guy goes to the center of the galaxy looking for God but learns he was really looking for himself... and then dies fighting himself as it also happens to be an alien in galaxy-jail. That old yarn.

Self-actualization is great but it's really just the mid-point of the journey (unless you die fighting an alien).

And if you don't die fighting an alien, what is the rest of the journey?

Was that undiscovered country?