Ovarian Lottery or Not?
The author calls himself a farm boy. Naturally, as I opened the book, I was looking forward to some ‘grounded’ wisdom. What I got was an engaging easy read which was posited scientifically. This has literally become the magic formula of writing these days; more and more authors want to connect with their readers by simplifying rather than complicating their offering.
‘The Science of Being Lucky’ comes from Nick Trenton, the same author who wrote ‘Stop Overthinking’.
Here are our five #BookStrapping insights.
1. Warren Buffet understands the role of luck. He calls it ovarian lottery! Whether you’re born male or female, in America or Afghanistan, to rich or poor parents- it’s the most important thing that is ever going to happen to you in your life. It’s going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things!
2. In one of seven chapters, the author connects superstition to how it balances uncertainty and absence of understanding of real causes of events in our lives. Quite deep, when you understand its correlation to luck.
3. Here’s a question for you; do you notice the unexpected in your environment? Can this be one of the first of four factors determining luck? No spoilers here, bit suffice to say that your mindset can either bring you luck to otherwise. Ask anyone who survived an air crash!
4. Is there such a thing called lucky thought patterns? The author gives a lot of credit to researcher Richard Wiseman who, as part of his research, placed luck right in front of strangers and realised that some completely miss it! Yet, some immediately spot the opportunity. This could be the defining factor.
5. The author counsels that those plagued with self doubt, must learn to take other peoples opinions with a pinch of salt. Spending time alone will help such people tune others out and ask themselves what they feel, want and think. This is a deeply spiritual advice and rooted in Indian tradition.
Here’s the core question that the book attempts to answer.
Is luck fantasy? Can you create your luck?
What can you do to make yourself immune to bad luck, if such a thing were possible?
Read on.
Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta is a columnist and bestselling biographer. She is credited with the internationally acclaimed Red Dot Experiment, a decadal six-nation study on how ‘culture impacts communication.’ On Twitter @OfficialReetaRG.