written by JOHN MARK MINES | WEALTH, FATE, SERVICE
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
William Shakespeare
but in ourselves.
Green with Envy
What would you do for a pot of gold?
Growing up in California, or the “Golden State,” we learned about the Gold Rush. A lot. During which hundreds of thousands of forty-niners moved across the country to pan for gold. Money is a mighty motivator.
Myths are littered with stories like these. It’s almost a cliche, like Long John Silver searching for (Muppet) Treasure Island or Captain Jack Sparrow sailing for Isla de Muerta. Leprechauns lead us to a pot of gold; that is, if you can find one.
Gold Fever is no fiction. Just ask the forty-niners. Today, though, the search for El Dorado looks different. It’s an influencer trying to go viral or a gambler in a casino. Either way, the lust for luck endures.
Unfortunately, luck is a fickle friend. Again, ask the forty-niners: most found nothing at all. The ones who got rich were those who sold shovels.
But what if there was a different way to get lucky? What if, in fact, to get lucky, you didn’t need luck at all?
So You’re Saying There’s a Chance
By many measures, modern life is boring. Like God, most people don’t play dice with the universe. Instead, we predict everything from the weather to GPS arrival times with stunning accuracy. The dice stay in the board game; the real Game of Life isn’t left to chance.
With all our knowledge and technology, you would think that luck doesn’t matter. And you would be wrong.
We love luck. We’re absolutely captivated (or charmed, if you will). Since sports betting became legalized in 2018, over $500 billion has been wagered. Last year, March Madness gathered some $3 billion in wagers (it’s not too late to make a bracket!), and the Super Bowl gathered about $1.7 billion. In size and scope, gambling has spread like wildfire.
Today, anything can be a gamble. Prediction markets bet on whether aliens will be confirmed in 2026 or how many social media posts a celebrity will make. We’ve taken the smallest randomness of the universe and magnified it with money.
Rationally, gambling doesn’t make much sense, especially when you consider our favorite games. According to the American Gaming Association, slot machines generate about 75% of all casino gambling revenue in the United States. With slot machines, you just pull a lever. Winning is determined by chance alone.
And then there’s the lottery. Fun fact: Americans spend more money on lottery tickets each year than they do on movie tickets, video games, comic books, and studio music combined.
While life is naturally random, these institutions are artificial. They need not exist. Yet we manufacture and maintain them. Why take life in your own hands when you can take a chance instead?
If we are rational beings, there is a reason behind this madness. And there is: luck is more than chance. It’s validation.
My Loss is Your Gain
Luck has a dark side. From slot machines to prediction markets, luck is a comparative, zero-sum game. One person’s fortune is another’s misfortune. Luck makes you more than lucky: it makes you a winner.
Luck needs losers. If everyone won the lottery, no one would. Chance distinguishes the lucky few from the misfortunate many. Every winner stands on the shoulders of millions of losers.
When it comes to luck, more isn’t merrier. By definition, it can’t happen to everyone. To be lucky is to be an exception.
ex·cep·tion·al·ism ikˈsepSH(ə)nəlˌtizəm
noun: to be unique, superior, or not subject to the usual rules.
If you are exceptional, you are special. Rules don’t apply to you. And luck proves it: when others lose, you win. You’re the diamond in the rough, the lily among the thorns. Like Neo from the Matrix, you are “the one.”
In today’s world, winning matters. There are only so many college admission letters and scholarships to go around. Only so many job offers and promotions. Relationships, too, from best friends to spouses, are exclusive. Inevitably, some are chosen and all others miss out.
This is a dilemma. Luck matters, but it cannot be tamed. No matter how many lottery tickets you buy, the odds are never in your favor. But perhaps there’s a different way. To turn the poker tables on luck, stop trying to get lucky. Instead, give luck away.
Bless You
About a year ago I got really unlucky. I took a bad step and tore my ACL. I didn’t even realize it until my knee buckled beneath me and I fell on my face. It was unfortunate, to say the least.
A fully torn ACL cannot heal itself. It needs surgery. Before mine, lying on the gurney, all I could think about was the Civil War. That was a time when “surgery” mainly meant amputation. I looked at my left leg as if it were the last time.
In view of history, I am extremely lucky. I am lucky because surgeons do this operation literally every day. I’m lucky because anesthesia exists. I’m lucky because I no longer fall on my face (due to knee buckling, anyway).
This kind of luck is fundamentally different than gambling. My fortune didn’t come from another’s misfortune. Ironically, it came from my own.
Like the lottery, I was completely powerless over my fate. Unlike the lottery, my fate wasn’t up to chance. Luck didn’t make me lucky; a person did.
This is the difference between getting lucky and being lucky. Getting lucky is about winning; being lucky is about helping others. It is the ability to tilt the world, if ever so slightly, in their favor.
Now, we can’t all be surgeons. Personally, I can hardly handle a Capri-Sun. Nevertheless, there are countless ways to help. The first step is to stop obsessing over getting lucky and start thinking about giving it away.
Luck is a gift. And like all gifts, it’s better to give than receive.
