Are certain people genuinely unlucky
Discussion
And are others unnaturally lucky? I only ask as I seem to fall into the unlucky camp, even my dad used to say I must be cursed and he wasn't even superstitious. I worked with people over the years where everything seems to go right for them and others that have nothing but appalling bad luck every day and its not even self induced.
Just one little incident today got me thinking about this again, me and my mate were working on a property that was being re-furbished and we were in the cellar, he had turned the power off to fit some sockets. Later he went for a piss in the cellar toilet and flushed it, a couple of minutes later I head running water, I turned round and the toilet was overflowing all over the brand new laminate floor in the cellar, the toilet was syphoning constantly and because the power was off the saniflow pump hadn't kicked in.
I ran to it and by messing with the button got it to stop overflowing but there was still water everywhere, I said sarcastically to my mate Oi look what you've done to the cellar you idiot get a f
king mop quick dick head. Bearing in mind its a building site and its a challenge to even find your own tools half the time right at the top of the cellar steps was a brand new mop bucket and mop, perfect for getting all the water off the new floor sharpish.
When it was dry again my mate turned round to me and said if you were here on your own not only would there not have been a mop in the house, there wouldn't have been any in B&Q either. So he has noticed too that if something outside your control can go wrong then it does a lot more often for me than it does for other people.
Do others find similar, that they seem a lot more cursed or that others are just born lucky. It doesn't get me down or anything like that because plenty goes right but I certainly tip the scales.
Just one little incident today got me thinking about this again, me and my mate were working on a property that was being re-furbished and we were in the cellar, he had turned the power off to fit some sockets. Later he went for a piss in the cellar toilet and flushed it, a couple of minutes later I head running water, I turned round and the toilet was overflowing all over the brand new laminate floor in the cellar, the toilet was syphoning constantly and because the power was off the saniflow pump hadn't kicked in.
I ran to it and by messing with the button got it to stop overflowing but there was still water everywhere, I said sarcastically to my mate Oi look what you've done to the cellar you idiot get a f
king mop quick dick head. Bearing in mind its a building site and its a challenge to even find your own tools half the time right at the top of the cellar steps was a brand new mop bucket and mop, perfect for getting all the water off the new floor sharpish.When it was dry again my mate turned round to me and said if you were here on your own not only would there not have been a mop in the house, there wouldn't have been any in B&Q either. So he has noticed too that if something outside your control can go wrong then it does a lot more often for me than it does for other people.
Do others find similar, that they seem a lot more cursed or that others are just born lucky. It doesn't get me down or anything like that because plenty goes right but I certainly tip the scales.
Nope.... not unlucky - just the hubbus bubbas of general life... things happen...
its a mind thing, if you seen the neg then it will be neg, if you keep the mind positive then life will be positive.
But by heck we do get things that challenge us !
5 hour generator run, just finished all went well, shutting down and going for a soft roll back to mains and run down the generators.
front end graphics on the BMS all going well closed up the incommer circuit breakers to site through the PC, and going through a few checked before taking the generators off bus.... Yup right there right then when paralled up the utility power failed, the reverse power sensing on our utility side picked up and tripped and we went back on to generators... couple of seconds to realise what was happening.
so no on the over all balance life has its ups and downs. picked a scratchcard on way home that night and got lucky...
its a mind thing, if you seen the neg then it will be neg, if you keep the mind positive then life will be positive.
But by heck we do get things that challenge us !
5 hour generator run, just finished all went well, shutting down and going for a soft roll back to mains and run down the generators.
front end graphics on the BMS all going well closed up the incommer circuit breakers to site through the PC, and going through a few checked before taking the generators off bus.... Yup right there right then when paralled up the utility power failed, the reverse power sensing on our utility side picked up and tripped and we went back on to generators... couple of seconds to realise what was happening.
so no on the over all balance life has its ups and downs. picked a scratchcard on way home that night and got lucky...
I see our paths have crossed again tonight ScottP and I thought I would give you some genuine feedback.
There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
ScottP, earlier tonight you suggested I was stalking you. I clearly am not, I’m just spending time on PHs before going out. But, the way you communicate is very distinctive so your previous thread and this one were obvious to me to be written by you. In every thread you have some offensive insult about some third party. Often, you justify it as they are friends. You also put yourself into situations that are going to end badly.
Here is why.... there is an aspect of you that craves attention. Unfortunately, it is much easier to get that attention in a negative way. Any form of attention to a seeker holds the same credit so often seekers go the easy route and act a bit like a $&@“.
I tell you this as I struggle with one child who tends to the negative. I see the same character traits in you as I do him. I’ve tried to help him but he keeps falling back into the same patterns. I hope it is due to a lack of maturity and he will grow out of it. Perhaps you can spend some time looking introspectively and adjusting your own behavior.
There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
ScottP, earlier tonight you suggested I was stalking you. I clearly am not, I’m just spending time on PHs before going out. But, the way you communicate is very distinctive so your previous thread and this one were obvious to me to be written by you. In every thread you have some offensive insult about some third party. Often, you justify it as they are friends. You also put yourself into situations that are going to end badly.
Here is why.... there is an aspect of you that craves attention. Unfortunately, it is much easier to get that attention in a negative way. Any form of attention to a seeker holds the same credit so often seekers go the easy route and act a bit like a $&@“.
I tell you this as I struggle with one child who tends to the negative. I see the same character traits in you as I do him. I’ve tried to help him but he keeps falling back into the same patterns. I hope it is due to a lack of maturity and he will grow out of it. Perhaps you can spend some time looking introspectively and adjusting your own behavior.
Edited by h0b0 on Saturday 9th January 01:57
h0b0 said:
...There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations...
Like this one? 
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Hobo has been very kind in his assessment. A crueller man would have said that poor outcomes often happen to people who make poor, selfish, decisions and then they see this outcome as an unlucky event as they lack the intelligence and self awareness to see how their own actions can change the course.
In your posts on here you come across as an aggressive, selfish man so I wonder if the above could be applied to you. What do you think?
In your posts on here you come across as an aggressive, selfish man so I wonder if the above could be applied to you. What do you think?
I'm convinced I'm unlucky to a certain extent when it comes to money.
Although I'm financially ok every penny of what I have is entirely through earned and taxed income, I've never received any form of unearned money or windfall and never likely to.
I suppose the only unearned income I do receive is the pathetic interest rate on savings and even then I manage to have ''below average luck'' at least as far as ''prize winnings'' on my Premium Bonds are concerned.
Although I'm financially ok every penny of what I have is entirely through earned and taxed income, I've never received any form of unearned money or windfall and never likely to.
I suppose the only unearned income I do receive is the pathetic interest rate on savings and even then I manage to have ''below average luck'' at least as far as ''prize winnings'' on my Premium Bonds are concerned.
h0b0 said:
There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
Is about the right answer.The other aspect is that its surprising how many "lucky" people seem to put effort into being "lucky". As Gary Player said "it's funny how the harder I practice the luckier I get".
scottyp123 said:
And are others unnaturally lucky? I only ask as I seem to fall into the unlucky camp, even my dad used to say I must be cursed and he wasn't even superstitious. I worked with people over the years where everything seems to go right for them and others that have nothing but appalling bad luck every day and its not even self induced.
Just one little incident today got me thinking about this again, me and my mate were working on a property that was being re-furbished and we were in the cellar, he had turned the power off to fit some sockets. Later he went for a piss in the cellar toilet and flushed it, a couple of minutes later I head running water, I turned round and the toilet was overflowing all over the brand new laminate floor in the cellar, the toilet was syphoning constantly and because the power was off the saniflow pump hadn't kicked in.
I ran to it and by messing with the button got it to stop overflowing but there was still water everywhere, I said sarcastically to my mate Oi look what you've done to the cellar you idiot get a fking mop quick dick head. Bearing in mind its a building site and its a challenge to even find your own tools half the time right at the top of the cellar steps was a brand new mop bucket and mop, perfect for getting all the water off the new floor sharpish.
When it was dry again my mate turned round to me and said if you were here on your own not only would there not have been a mop in the house, there wouldn't have been any in B&Q either. So he has noticed too that if something outside your control can go wrong then it does a lot more often for me than it does for other people.
Do others find similar, that they seem a lot more cursed or that others are just born lucky. It doesn't get me down or anything like that because plenty goes right but I certainly tip the scales.
You're a glass half empty person. You're actually lucky.Just one little incident today got me thinking about this again, me and my mate were working on a property that was being re-furbished and we were in the cellar, he had turned the power off to fit some sockets. Later he went for a piss in the cellar toilet and flushed it, a couple of minutes later I head running water, I turned round and the toilet was overflowing all over the brand new laminate floor in the cellar, the toilet was syphoning constantly and because the power was off the saniflow pump hadn't kicked in.
I ran to it and by messing with the button got it to stop overflowing but there was still water everywhere, I said sarcastically to my mate Oi look what you've done to the cellar you idiot get a f
king mop quick dick head. Bearing in mind its a building site and its a challenge to even find your own tools half the time right at the top of the cellar steps was a brand new mop bucket and mop, perfect for getting all the water off the new floor sharpish.When it was dry again my mate turned round to me and said if you were here on your own not only would there not have been a mop in the house, there wouldn't have been any in B&Q either. So he has noticed too that if something outside your control can go wrong then it does a lot more often for me than it does for other people.
Do others find similar, that they seem a lot more cursed or that others are just born lucky. It doesn't get me down or anything like that because plenty goes right but I certainly tip the scales.
You turned the power off and someone used the saniflo bog. <- This bit is stupidity.
Luckily your mate was there and had a mop.
It's a question of perspective...
GT03ROB said:
h0b0 said:
There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
Is about the right answer.The other aspect is that its surprising how many "lucky" people seem to put effort into being "lucky". As Gary Player said "it's funny how the harder I practice the luckier I get".
Their comment was
It took me ten years to become an overnight sensation
I do believe some people do have a uncanny natural luck. I have a friend who is insanely lucky. Could litterly flood his house, and then strike oil when fixing it. In reality its just co-oncidence.
I'd say I'm lucky on alot of things aswel, except cars. Everytime I get a new one someone bumps it. The one I got 9 weeks ago go scrapped right along the side on new years day by a drunk driver...
The last one had a lorry tear the back bumper off...
Before that one a cyclist brakes just stopped working as he ploughed into my parked car safely on my drive...
Someone pulled out into my car before that.
Its just a message to get a new car in reality, suits me lol.
I'd say I'm lucky on alot of things aswel, except cars. Everytime I get a new one someone bumps it. The one I got 9 weeks ago go scrapped right along the side on new years day by a drunk driver...
The last one had a lorry tear the back bumper off...
Before that one a cyclist brakes just stopped working as he ploughed into my parked car safely on my drive...
Someone pulled out into my car before that.
Its just a message to get a new car in reality, suits me lol.
Totally agree with Hobo. When I was working and was awarded a promotion, pay rise, bonus or what ever there would always be those who would consider me (or anyone else) to have been lucky. I would very quickly point out luck had nothing to do with it, I worked effing hard to get it. I explained to them its karma, cause and effect, they should try it themselves.
This is an interesting topic. There's quite a lot of research on 'luck'.
As other posters have pointed out, there's no such thing as luck in relation to the chance of winning a lottery.
However whether you consider yourself lucky can have quite a significant effect on your wellbeing and life chances
ie a 'lucky' person might buy lottery ticket the 'unlucky' person may say 'why bother?'. When these attitudes to risk and opportunity are accumulated over a lifetime the 'lucky' person wins.
Use of the term luck to describe a set of circumstances which are the result of hard work and opportunity is the sure sign of a miserable wr - it makes sense to surround yourself with 'lucky' people and avoid exposure to 'unlucky' people as the luck and poison does rub off.
As other posters have pointed out, there's no such thing as luck in relation to the chance of winning a lottery.
However whether you consider yourself lucky can have quite a significant effect on your wellbeing and life chances
ie a 'lucky' person might buy lottery ticket the 'unlucky' person may say 'why bother?'. When these attitudes to risk and opportunity are accumulated over a lifetime the 'lucky' person wins.
Use of the term luck to describe a set of circumstances which are the result of hard work and opportunity is the sure sign of a miserable w
r - it makes sense to surround yourself with 'lucky' people and avoid exposure to 'unlucky' people as the luck and poison does rub off.h0b0 said:
I see our paths have crossed again tonight ScottP and I thought I would give you some genuine feedback.
There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
ScottP, earlier tonight you suggested I was stalking you. I clearly am not, I’m just spending time on PHs before going out. But, the way you communicate is very distinctive so your previous thread and this one were obvious to me to be written by you. In every thread you have some offensive insult about some third party. Often, you justify it as they are friends. You also put yourself into situations that are going to end badly.
Here is why.... there is an aspect of you that craves attention. Unfortunately, it is much easier to get that attention in a negative way. Any form of attention to a seeker holds the same credit so often seekers go the easy route and act a bit like a $&@“.
I tell you this as I struggle with one child who tends to the negative. I see the same character traits in you as I do him. I’ve tried to help him but he keeps falling back into the same patterns. I hope it is due to a lack of maturity and he will grow out of it. Perhaps you can spend some time looking introspectively and adjusting your own behavior.
Thank you doctor Fritz.There is no such thing as luck but there is a thing of how you approach situations. For example, when going to a restaurant you can either focus on the slow service or enjoy the fantastic food. A negative person will always go towards the service and the positive person will enjoy the food even though they are the exact same situation. A person that focuses on the negative will tell you they have terrible luck. Often, they just have a poor perspective.
ScottP, earlier tonight you suggested I was stalking you. I clearly am not, I’m just spending time on PHs before going out. But, the way you communicate is very distinctive so your previous thread and this one were obvious to me to be written by you. In every thread you have some offensive insult about some third party. Often, you justify it as they are friends. You also put yourself into situations that are going to end badly.
Here is why.... there is an aspect of you that craves attention. Unfortunately, it is much easier to get that attention in a negative way. Any form of attention to a seeker holds the same credit so often seekers go the easy route and act a bit like a $&@“.
I tell you this as I struggle with one child who tends to the negative. I see the same character traits in you as I do him. I’ve tried to help him but he keeps falling back into the same patterns. I hope it is due to a lack of maturity and he will grow out of it. Perhaps you can spend some time looking introspectively and adjusting your own behavior.
Edited by h0b0 on Saturday 9th January 01:57
I'm not talking about stuff that is perceived to go wrong, where I'm trudging around complaining lifes not fair, I'm talking about actual problems that do go wrong more often for one person where as another person will get lucky with stuff every time when taking a chance.
Like I say its mostly in our work, we fit a lot of lights for people, downlights mostly and they have to fit in a ceiling in the space between the floor joists, joists are only 2" wide or 3 at a push with about 15" in between them so the total void is nearly all space yet I can mark out 10 downlights in a room to the position I think look best and every single one of the 10 will fall on a joist (I bradawl a small hole first), that happens numerous times which isn't too bad as I can move them but if I have to put a light fitting up I can never find a joist to fasten it to, its as if the ceiling is devoid of joists all together.
Some will say that its just chance but my mate can put 20 light fittings up in a house and get a solid fix for them every time, it just falls into place for him. So much so that he puts the light fittings up and I do the other work. Occasionally he says he is bored with light fittings and that I should do, I warn him what will probably happen and sure enough on the first light I will have to go and get the carpet and floorboard up upstairs and start messing about with noggins and stuff trying to get a decent fixing. He then goes back to putting the fittings up and they are all perfect again.
If I go to a car factors for something and there is a choice of 2 fits I always guess at the wrong one and have to swap it no matter how much research I do on it first. Other people in front of me in the queue don't even know which car they drive but still manage to walk off with a part.
There are loads of other situations where I think its uncanny that certain things seems to happen to me totally differently to other people. I'm not saying its black magic or anything like that and to reiterate again it doesn't bother me or get me down I just find it a bit strange and its no good saying I'm just imagining it because it happens right in front of my eyes.
I think all of us experience this type of thing.
I am massively unlucky with work, interviews, etc, I have never once got a job I want, if you had a list of jobs I applied/interviewed for and prioritised them 1-10 in terms of how much I wanted them I would only get offered 8,9 and 10. It has happened for 30 years and I ignore it all the time but time and again it happens.
I have no idea how to change this and simply now am aware that it is likely to happen, it doesn't not change my approach, I still do my utmost but time and again things happen, sometimes it's down to me, but often out of my control to mean I don't get that one break I would like. I HATE/LOATH people who say "I fell into this job or that job", that never happens to me and never will, I am just not that guy.
Yet conversely my health is great, I have no issues at all and hope to live a long, fit life. I am good with money and aware enough to never be scammed and see the wool for the trees.
This I think is a mixture of genuine bad luck, good luck and a certain amount of self awareness and healthy cynicism!!
I am massively unlucky with work, interviews, etc, I have never once got a job I want, if you had a list of jobs I applied/interviewed for and prioritised them 1-10 in terms of how much I wanted them I would only get offered 8,9 and 10. It has happened for 30 years and I ignore it all the time but time and again it happens.
I have no idea how to change this and simply now am aware that it is likely to happen, it doesn't not change my approach, I still do my utmost but time and again things happen, sometimes it's down to me, but often out of my control to mean I don't get that one break I would like. I HATE/LOATH people who say "I fell into this job or that job", that never happens to me and never will, I am just not that guy.
Yet conversely my health is great, I have no issues at all and hope to live a long, fit life. I am good with money and aware enough to never be scammed and see the wool for the trees.
This I think is a mixture of genuine bad luck, good luck and a certain amount of self awareness and healthy cynicism!!
scottyp123 said:
Thank you doctor Fritz.
I'm not talking about stuff that is perceived to go wrong, where I'm trudging around complaining lifes not fair, I'm talking about actual problems that do go wrong more often for one person where as another person will get lucky with stuff every time when taking a chance.
Like I say its mostly in our work, we fit a lot of lights for people, downlights mostly and they have to fit in a ceiling in the space between the floor joists, joists are only 2" wide or 3 at a push with about 15" in between them so the total void is nearly all space yet I can mark out 10 downlights in a room to the position I think look best and every single one of the 10 will fall on a joist (I bradawl a small hole first), that happens numerous times which isn't too bad as I can move them but if I have to put a light fitting up I can never find a joist to fasten it to, its as if the ceiling is devoid of joists all together.
Some will say that its just chance but my mate can put 20 light fittings up in a house and get a solid fix for them every time, it just falls into place for him. So much so that he puts the light fittings up and I do the other work. Occasionally he says he is bored with light fittings and that I should do, I warn him what will probably happen and sure enough on the first light I will have to go and get the carpet and floorboard up upstairs and start messing about with noggins and stuff trying to get a decent fixing. He then goes back to putting the fittings up and they are all perfect again.
If I go to a car factors for something and there is a choice of 2 fits I always guess at the wrong one and have to swap it no matter how much research I do on it first. Other people in front of me in the queue don't even know which car they drive but still manage to walk off with a part.
There are loads of other situations where I think its uncanny that certain things seems to happen to me totally differently to other people. I'm not saying its black magic or anything like that and to reiterate again it doesn't bother me or get me down I just find it a bit strange and its no good saying I'm just imagining it because it happens right in front of my eyes.
I wouldnt say your example is anything to do with luck, more subconscious negativity, your mate probably doesnt even think about the job, and therefore he probably has a good idea where the joists are by looking at the room, and can therefore determine where the lites will go.I'm not talking about stuff that is perceived to go wrong, where I'm trudging around complaining lifes not fair, I'm talking about actual problems that do go wrong more often for one person where as another person will get lucky with stuff every time when taking a chance.
Like I say its mostly in our work, we fit a lot of lights for people, downlights mostly and they have to fit in a ceiling in the space between the floor joists, joists are only 2" wide or 3 at a push with about 15" in between them so the total void is nearly all space yet I can mark out 10 downlights in a room to the position I think look best and every single one of the 10 will fall on a joist (I bradawl a small hole first), that happens numerous times which isn't too bad as I can move them but if I have to put a light fitting up I can never find a joist to fasten it to, its as if the ceiling is devoid of joists all together.
Some will say that its just chance but my mate can put 20 light fittings up in a house and get a solid fix for them every time, it just falls into place for him. So much so that he puts the light fittings up and I do the other work. Occasionally he says he is bored with light fittings and that I should do, I warn him what will probably happen and sure enough on the first light I will have to go and get the carpet and floorboard up upstairs and start messing about with noggins and stuff trying to get a decent fixing. He then goes back to putting the fittings up and they are all perfect again.
If I go to a car factors for something and there is a choice of 2 fits I always guess at the wrong one and have to swap it no matter how much research I do on it first. Other people in front of me in the queue don't even know which car they drive but still manage to walk off with a part.
There are loads of other situations where I think its uncanny that certain things seems to happen to me totally differently to other people. I'm not saying its black magic or anything like that and to reiterate again it doesn't bother me or get me down I just find it a bit strange and its no good saying I'm just imagining it because it happens right in front of my eyes.
You will go into it with the opinion of being unlucky, and subconsciously you make that happen, you will have an idea of where the joists are, as I would imagine that most would be the same distance apart, so you will look and subconsciously pick the location where the joist is, to rewinforce your suspicions that you are indeed unlucky.
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