Should One Rely on Lady Luck?

I have a friend who often encounters “not-so-good” situations but somehow always manages to pull something off at the last minute that I begin to think lady luck follows him everywhere he goes. Let’s call him Mr. S for now.

Mr. S is an intelligent man who has everything going smoothly for him. Although we are both not American, I can say that he is living the American dream: great job, recently promoted, nice house and soon-to-be married. Just like any other human however, he makes a few mistakes. What stunt me is that he overcomes them rather easily.

I can recall 3 incidents: 1) He performed badly during Final Year Project period that he was given a poorly written reference letter which he believed would not be able to land him any job. Shortly after, he found a job but his peers appeared to dislike him and didn’t want to help him. A few weeks later, he was selected to join the graduate recruitment programme of a well-known investment bank.

2) He was told he would be sent to work in London. However before he knew the date and found tenants to rent his entire apartment, he told his existing housemates who promptly moved out of his apartment. As he had a mortgage, he couldn’t use his rental money and had to rely on his own savings to pay for the mortgage for that month. A month later, he found tenants. Had he not found any tenants, he would have needed to pay for the mortgages entirely from his savings for longer period of time and given the amount to be paid per month, I don’t know how long he will last.

3) Knowing that he would not be paid any salary for the month and any unnecessary spending will result in cash-flow problem, he spent S$3000 on stocks. Fortunately, his salary for the month was credited to him due to a miscommunication between HR and Finance in his company.

The question that appeared in my mind is: should one take such risks in everything that one does? I believe the answer is no. Although things may turn in your favor just like in the case of Mr. S, there is also a probability that it may not turn in your favor. Lady Luck is not always on your side. The key is to think and re-think the impact of every single step that you are going to make. Don’t only think of the favorable outcomes. Consider also the possibility of unfavorable outcomes. If the unfavorable outcomes happen, does your step have any contingency plans? Once made, there is no “Undo” button.