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Lucky Dogs...Wishful and Wistful Thinkers

Beyond Business

Many people believe luck plays a key role in life – successful people are the recipients of good luck while unsuccessful people are the recipients of bad luck. 

Think of this as a fair coin toss – some people are blessed with winning luck while others are burdened with bad luck.

Many people subscribe [consciously or unconsciously] to the attribution bias where:

  • When the fail the luck of situations has worked against them
  • When the succeed their ability is the cause
  • When others fail their lack of ability is the cause
  • When others succeed the luck of situations has worked in their favour

Think of this as a heads-I-succeed, tails-you-don’t coin toss when I win and a rigged coin toss when I lose.

The flawed thinking behind all this is, success relies heavily on luck [also known as ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’].

When people believe luck controls success, their thinking becomes wishful and wistful: people wish for luck/success and people are wistful when luck/success is enjoyed by others. 

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About Lucky Dogs: We will do better if we understand there are none.

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About Wishful and Wistful Thinkers: They lead strained and pained lives, lacking the joys that follow achievement and missing the lessons that follow defeats.

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Life is not a coin toss.