Hollywood movie- “The Pursuit of Happyness” portrays the story of Chris Gardner, whose life is an inspiring journey from rags to riches. The movie reiterates the importance of hard work in a person's success. However, the fact remains that not everyone who might have worked as hard as Gardner, succeeded as much. Did luck favour him more? Probably yes, but why?
Dictionary.com defines luck as the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person’s life, as in shaping circumstances, events or opportunities. Astrologers might explain it through celestial combinations and cosmic patterns, believers might reason it with karma, while rationales might justify through statistical probabilities. However, is there a secret potion that supersedes these reasons and makes us lucky?
Researchers studying serendipity actually suggest ways that potentially can tilt the scale of fortune to one’s advantage. Here’s my attempt to relate few of such theories with real life experiences and some incidents from the movie.
Being Extrovert:
In the movie, when Gardner is badly in need of a job, he pretends urgency to get into sharing a cab with Stock Broker Jay Twistle. The next 30 minutes he spends impressing Twistle, includes pouring all his might to successfully solve the Rubik’s cube that’s been challenging Twistle for quite some time. The die is cast. What follows, builds upon the first impression Twistle has gathered of Gardner.
Gardner’s openness to reach out proactively and his attitude to turn life’s unexpected situations into opportunities, made him lucky. Throughout the movie, we get to see lot more traits that feed his fortune, like humbly reaching out to millionaire Walter Ribbon to apologize for a missed appointment; a situation that introduces him to elite contacts, which would later become his clients.
Mathematics explains it through a simple formula.
The more options you try from all possible options, the more is your probability of succeeding.
Openness to opportunities:
Back in July 2004, while returning from my night shift, working at a call centre, my colleague HP mentioned about an interview call he received from Cybage, a well-known Software firm in Pune. Tired of speaking to Americans all night, I was myself keen on any opportunity that would spare me the phone calls.
I joined HP for the interview as an uninvited job seeker. A written exam followed by 2 rounds of interviews landed me the job. My willingness to work in night shift seemed the major reason.
My brief stint with the call centre only provided the required detour to steer my career from a job with a mediocre hardware service provider to a decent software firm. Probably my strong desire to get into the booming software industry along with tapping the door on time, without over thinking where my career was going, made me lucky.
Being flexible:
In 2004, MG graduated in Engineering with flying colours, but struggled getting a job as his college offered no campus placement assistance. After 3 months and multiple rejections, distress started taking over his self confidence.
After some introspection, he decided to put his teaching skills to use while still hunting a job in parallel, and took up a part-time job as a tutor. In few weeks, he saw his calling in a PG Course in Embedded systems offered by CDAC. He pursued the course, topped the class, got placed in Patni and within 6 months, was off to the US on a short term assignment. The perfect team, mentors, client (EMC) and a foreseeable future, MG couldn’t ask for more.
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade out of it” says he. “If one formula doesn’t work, wipe your slate and start framing the new one.”
Plan consciously, but if things don’t work as planned, adapt and change gracefully. Be flexible, get lucky.
Hope & Belief:
DA was excited as she was looking forward to move into a new house soon. Her husband AA and she had finalized the deal for a 1 bedroom flat in their favourite locality. However, just a week before registration, the owner apologetically broke the deal, citing personal reasons.
“We were blank, felt homeless as we had sold the house we were living in, to arrange the down payment. My son’s new school was about to begin in 15 days, and we had nowhere to stay”, she recalls. They arranged for a rented place while rigorously looking for options to buy, keeping hopes alive.
A strong desire, along with a strong belief and patience, finds its way. A couple of months later, they were set in their own new house, a 2 bedroom flat this time, in the same locality and similar price.
“If one door gets closed, knock the next one. Life may open a bigger door for you, and you may just get lucky” says DA.
Broadcast the right
waves:
Joanna McEwen says “Every
human being is a composite of frequencies. The frequencies vibrate at the
cellular level, continue out into space on a vibratory continuum being
connected by an energy field, or a matrix of waves.
The energy and
vibrations you give out, is reflected back on you. If your internal frequencies
are that of anxiety, depression or anger, then life experiences you have, may
very well provide you with frequent situations that reflect these back at you.”
She explains this in an interesting video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLSsqCI7NIE
The Secret:
“The Secret” explains how the entire universe is at work to fulfill the deepest desires that you pursue with utmost positivity. A personal experience cemented this belief in me thoroughly.
In mid November 2018, I got released from my work project following a client escalation. I was taken aback with the unexpected situation. I was angry for the allegations made against me, ashamed for the blot on my profile, anxious about what might happen next, but also happy to get out of a directionless project.
An intuition made me reach out to AJ, a contact who could pull me in the Machine Learning (ML) domain. For more than a year, AP, DS and I had been reaching out to contacts in Data Science and Machine Learning within Cognizant, discussing prospects and opportunities for us.
Coincidently, AJ was on a lookout to fill in a position in his team, vacated recently by a resignation. We spoke, and things worked out. The Business Consulting group I belonged to had no problem releasing me to join the Machine Learning group, thanks to their lack of projects and client escalation that worked against (well actually, for) me.
I was finally in the right place, working on things I had deeply desired for more than a year. It was as if all pieces had fallen in place, the stage was set for me to play a bigger role, but that needed an immediate exit from the previous setup. That explained “the Secret”, and I got lucky.
Through numerous experiments conducted around the world, it is observed that lucky people are more apt to do things to tune in to their inner minds, like meditating and taking walks. Breaking the monotony and embracing life’s quirky offerings without over thinking expose people to more opportunities, hence making them lucky. Are you not trying to be one?
