WorldWide Drilling Resource

These Stories will Change Your Beliefs about Luck ~ Is it possible to influence luck? Eight-year-old Julie Amberg was excited when her Aunt Nancy showed up to visit. Nancy, however, wanted some adult time with her sister, so she sent Julie on a mission. “Go outside and see if you can find a four-leaf clover, and I’ll give you a dollar for each one you bring me.” The odds of her getting a long, one-on-one conversation with her sister were pretty good: studies show there is only one four-leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers. A few minutes later, however, Julie was back in the house with a four-leaf clover. Aunt Nancy gave her a dollar and sent her back out again. A few more minutes passed and Julie was back with another. She returned three more times, the final time with a five-leaf clover, which is very rare. Today, Julie is a successful Atlanta-based artist, and she still has an uncanny knack for finding four- leaf clovers. A skeptic, however, might suggest it is her artist’s eye for detail which enables her to find so many. Luck is defined as the chance happening of good fortune, prosperity, or success. I’ve never been one to believe I was lucky, but I recall reading in 2010 about some scientists at the University of Cologne conducting studies which showed a belief in luck can improve a person’s chances to succeed. Ron Currens, a technology sales professional in Atlanta, can attest to this: “I have played competitive backgammon for many years and the throw of the dice is central to the game. I have found that if I can convince my opponent that I am lucky, then I often get throws like double-six with far greater frequency than normal. It's as if the expectation of luck affects the roll of the dice in some profound manner.” I’ve been intrigued about the motivational factor of believing in luck for some time. So, I recently asked some of my friends and acquaintances if they believe they are lucky; if their belief affected their luck; and to share some of their luck sto- ries. I hoped to re-ceive two or three stories, but I was rewarded with dozens. Perhaps I’m lucky after all. Through my interviews, I noticed some patterns among lucky people, what they consider to be luck, and in what seems to cause luck. I’ll share some of those with you, along with some of their stories. Many responded they didn’t believe in luck at all; luck is merely the result of hard work and comes when preparation meets opportunity. Several people told me they don’t consider good fortune as luck, but as blessings from God. Others told me they believe their serendipity results from the Law of Attraction. A few simply accept they are lucky without questioning it. Susie Carter said, “Am I lucky? Yes, I win at everything I try.” She started AlaskaMen magazine and calendar on her kitchen table in 1986, because she wanted to help the single men who came to her day care center needing child care. It was an overnight success. “I just believed I could help the men find wives if I could figure a way to do it.” Susie and AlaskaMen have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show five times, in Cosmopolitan magazine four times, People magazine three times, and hundreds of other magazines, newspapers, and TV shows world- wide. One pattern I’ve noticed is many lucky streaks seem to start after experiencing bad luck such as surviving an economic hardship, or worse a traumatic event like severe injury or life-threatening disease. For Paul Babin, a successful cinematogra- pher in Hollywood, it was getting fired from a job which turned his luck around. He said, "Luck comes when we make The Un- Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. 18 DECEMBER 2016 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Wilson cont’d on page 82.