The Role of Luck in Getting What You Want

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All right, well hello there and hope you're having an absolutely phenomenal day. If your days just get started good morning, but for the rest of you hope you're having a phenomenal day. This is Eric Chow and welcome to this episode of the Eric Chow Empowers Podcast extremely excited and honored to be sharing with you. Before I get into this episode, I do want to just say thank you for tuning in. And I also want to just say if you do ever find this episode or any episode valuable insightful, relatable, or interesting, I would really appreciate if you went ahead and shared it with somebody you know who you think would enjoy the episode or enjoy the podcast.

Listen, I've never spent money on advertising this show or trying to grow the podcast. The only money I've spent on this show is buying the mic that I'm currently using and Honestly, I'm not even sure I've made enough money on this podcast to even pay for this mic. So this is not a profitable activity for me. I just do this because I really enjoy it and because I do want to add value. And so if it is doing that to you, I would appreciate if you share it with somebody. And if you want to share it on your social media, definitely give me a follow at Eric Chow Real and make sure you tag me when you share about it.

But in this episode, I really wanted to talk about a question that came to my mind a few days ago that I thought was pretty interesting and I've been thinking about it and mulling over the past couple of days and that is what is the role that luck plays in any sort of success or victory. And I mean this in everything like success in business, success financially, success in finding a great boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other of some kind success in in school and grades and tests and the work and getting hired and anything right That's what I'm talking about and what is the role that luck plays in that?

Because I think a lot of the time I've been I've been seeing this on social media and it kind of if I'm being honest it kind of pisses me off when people say oh my gosh, I mean that person is just so lucky and You know what of course there is luck involved in all of this, but I wonder what is the role that it plays because I understand that yes, we should be able to say, okay, yeah, that person's lucky. That's fine. But my issue is I think a lot of people say, oh, they're just lucky as an excuse not to do. So I'm not putting anybody down if they if they're really actually, you know, doing everything that they need to be doing.

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And everything is exactly the same. And if we just take person A and person B and they're doing all the same things, and person A happens to get the victory, then maybe we can make a case for, you know, you can say that person was lucky and we can just say that, hey, your person B, your time is coming. But I think that a lot of people like to use this idea of luck as an excuse of why they can't achieve something or why they can't do something. And as a result, they almost don't even try. And so that's really what kind of bothered me and triggered this thought, not that it actually has anything to do with the question itself of what is the role that luck plays.

If that isn't you, you know, who's kind of in that kind of situation who said that before and I, hey, listen, I can tell you that I'm one of those people who said, oh my gosh, that person's so lucky. So I was definitely there. But even if that's not relatable for you.

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hopefully the insight that I share in this that I thought about will be interesting and helpful for you. For me, the greatest luck that I've ever had, and I think that all of us have ever had, the greatest miracle is the fact we were even born in the first place. Mathematically, the odds of that are 400 trillion to one, and obviously that is just an obnoxious, ridiculous I mean, unimaginable number. I mean, just a trillion and then 400 trillion. I mean, that's just ridiculous, right? So I'm going to try and quantify that for you. That is mathematically the probability of two and a half million people getting together each to play a game of dice with trillion sided dice. So you can roll any number from one.

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to a trillion and all two and a half million people getting the exact same number. Let's just say, I don't know, 553,392,706,407. Let's just say all of them came up with that number. Now, what is the role that luck plays in the situation like that? Because obviously none of us have anything to do with being born None of us at all we have nothing you can make an argument that oh, you know Yes partially I got lucky that I got this job But you can also say that you had a case you you had a part in that right you earned that in some way right?

You have some credibility, you got some experience, resume, education, previous work experience, network connections. There's something you may have done to contribute to that. It's not purely just luck, maybe, right? We can make an argument there. But for the odds of being born, we had nothing to do with it. But here's my thought. Listen, if I got together with one of my friends and I got together with them and we each rolled the dice.

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One through six regular dice and we came up with the same number. We'd be like yo, that's pretty cool If we got like three four people together we all rolled the six sided dice and we all came up with the same number We're like yo We need it like yo, what is this like this is crazy right? But when you're talking about trillion sided dice and two people getting the same number I don't think you can say that's just really lucky anymore And if you get three people you get four people rolling trillion side to dice and coming up with the same number I don't think you can just say that to luck.

That's luck. That's miracle. I think you have to believe there's something more to it. I'll give you another way to visualize this Mathematically, so I heard a few years ago that mathematically the odds of being born is equivalent to the odds of getting struck by lightning seven times in your lifetime.

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Okay. Now from what I've looked at and from my mathematical understanding, the number is actually three or four. Three or four times getting struck by lightning in your life. I don't know where that seven came from. I may be wrong. That statistic that I heard a few years ago, maybe wrong. I have no way to check where they got their source from because I don't know how I heard it, where I heard it, where their source was. I have no idea. So, but even if we just say, right, if I got struck by lightning, and by the way, the odds of getting struck by lightning from what I've looked at is one in 15,000.

Okay. I'm pretty unlucky if I get struck by lightning, right? I think we can all say that. I'm pretty unlucky. If I got hit by lightning twice in my lifetime, yo, I mean, that's some really serious unlucky, like, yo, seriously, like, I got a problem.

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But by the third or fourth time you gotta think to yourself. Ay yo Lightning is attracted to me dog like something's going on Right and that's the way I think about life in general and luck in general I had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was born I was blessed to be born to two incredible parents. They aren't perfect. But hey Neither am I we've had our problems. I've had points in my life where I I've held some serious resentment towards my parents and and and you know they may have done things that I didn't like and they may have done things that if I started talking about some other people may not like but you know what I believe that I've turned out to be hopefully a decent human being and I love my parents and I think I could not have asked for better parents.

Truly. Today I really do believe I can say that and so I just I feel tremendously blessed with my parents. When I entered middle school I had a teacher who was teaching the teaching band.

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Okay, and in grade three through grade five, I was really dedicated to choir. I was you know singing. I have no singing ability anymore by the way. I think after puberty I was screwed But in grade six I decided to make a change and I'm gonna I said I'm gonna jump out of choir and I'm gonna go into band now and because of that decision I met this teacher And this teacher was a little bit tough. She had a very tough love way of doing things. And what I chose to do was I said, hey, you know what? I'm going to think she is not mean.

I think she actually loves us. And therefore I'm going to put up with it. And I'm going to keep showing up. And I'm going to stick with her for three years. And that was a tremendously beneficial decision for me. I got lucky that she was the teacher.

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I got lucky that I was able to make that discernment of, you know what, I think that she's not just a mean person. I think she just has tough love. But I did make that decision. And I did decide to get out of my comfort zone to go from choir to band. I did make that decision. That was on me. In seventh grade, I had finished getting a black belt in Taekwondo. And a friend of mine told me, hey, Eric, I'm gonna, he also just finished getting a black belt in Taekwondo. And he was like, hey, Eric, I'm gonna stop training Taekwondo. And I'm gonna go to this other dojo.

It's a different martial art and we're gonna have to start at White Belt. I think you should come with. I got lucky. That invitation from my friend, the fact that he thought of me and the magical miracle that he was in the same position I was in terms of getting his black belt and then deciding that he didn't want to train Taekwondo anymore. That was all luck. It was also luck that he happened to be a friend of mine because the truth was we didn't actually train most of our time together. He was a little bit ahead of me and at some point I managed to be able to train with him a little bit after I had actually gotten my black belt and before I had quit.

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I got lucky. I got lucky that that sensei, I mean, what are the odds of that person ended up, you know, doing everything that he did to end up opening a dojo where he did. That was all luck. It was also, however, partially my choice. I made the decision to say, hey, you know what? Yes, I have a black belt in this martial art, but I'm gonna put my ego aside and say, hey, this is a completely different martial art. I'm gonna go in here with an eye, uh, uh, an open mind in this to learn something completely new and start over a white belt.

That is okay with me. So there was that balance. Now, at this point, I have reached four adult figures who have seriously, seriously made a tremendous impact on my life. I'm already at four. My parents?

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my band teacher, my sensei. Without any of these four people, I would not be here. I would not be anywhere near the human being that I am today. Then grade nine comes and I have this teacher for Honors' Entrepreneur II and this guy ends up being the next adult in my life who absolutely changes my life and in fact at one point without even knowing actually saves my life. Now, it was complete luck. See, I was actually in the wrong period. I was put into a math class in first period of that of my freshman year, and it was the wrong class. So during that lunch period, I went to my counselor and said, hey, listen, this is the wrong class. I need to get changed out. And she managed to, I don't even know if it was a he or she at the time.

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But whoever it was, they managed to change me into seventh period in the correct math class. One, that was luck, that that particular class happened to have what I needed. It was also luck that I was put into the wrong class in the first place, which gave me the opportunity to actually change, because odds are I probably wouldn't have been immediately put into the right class, right? It was also luck, because I later found out that teacher wasn't even supposed to have that math class. In fact, it's also luck even more now because for the past year, he hasn't been even teaching math. He's a purely psychology teacher at this point.

So all that was luck. But that teacher has, I mean, that teacher is, I would not be, this podcast for sure would not exist without him. I would not be the man I am today. I would not have a lot of the relationships I have today. I would not have the emotional intelligence that I have today.

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I would not have the character and the self-awareness and any sort of wisdom and maturity that I have today. And honestly, I don't even think I'd be alive, quite honestly. And that's five adults. You know, in 18 years old, seven months after high school, I connected with a gentleman, very, very successful entrepreneur and business owner. And he's a guy. who, you know, through him met so many incredibly successful entrepreneurs and business owners. And obviously many of you know I'm in business today and I spend a lot of time in the world of business and entrepreneurship and all of that. And he has been a mentor and a guiding figure and the people he's introduced me to have been such inspirations to me.

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And so I wouldn't be in this world of business and I wouldn't have had so many experiences and met so many relationships and do so many of the things that I'm doing today if it weren't for that gentleman. So right now already I've had how many adults who have absolutely changed my life and for me it's like the odds of getting struck by lightning. First two times I think I can say that I was pretty lucky with my parents. But I think the more you increase it third time you can say I'm lucky to have a great teacher fourth time you can say I'm lucky to have a great teacher But at some point I feel I have to think There's something more to it.

I have to think that yes, I'm tremendously lucky I am tremendously blessed, but there's got to be something more I Did something I did something to earn it. Maybe it's just good karma from a previous life if that's something you believe in, but I have got to believe that something more is going on. The point of this whole spiel, this episode, is a few things. Number one, I want you to realize the ridiculous odds it is of you even being born and the miracle that you are. I heard in the talk recently, they said Listen, I'm not going to tell you that we're nobody special and that you can do what we do.

We are special. We absolutely are special. This is a speaker and a talk. We are special. We had the seeds of greatness sown in us. But let me tell you something. You've got some great seeds of greatness in you as well. And I don't know what those seeds of greatness are. I don't know the seeds that have been sown in you, but you've got some special. That's what they said.

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And sure, it may sound inspirational, it may sound, you know, whatever. It may sound naive, it may sound, I don't know what the words are, right? But I believe that every one of us is a living, breathing miracle. I don't know about you guys, but I know that there was at least, there was a one point in my life where I nearly decided to take my own life. So not only are the odds of me being born, but those are the odds of actually me living to this point. And so when I think about that, I just realize, hey, my life is a literal miracle.

That's the first thing I hope that you take away from this. The second thing is you got, you know, maybe counting your blessings, I guess would be the second thing. Like I said, I think you can say maybe one, two, three, four, maybe of those adults.

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who have absolutely changed my life. Maybe you can just say, Eric, you're really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really lucky. And when you look at your own life and count some of the blessings that you've had, and listen, I just happen to count a few inspirational adults. I mean, how many other people I haven't even counted friends yet, right? And I haven't even counted some of the other teachers and other people who have made a great impact on my life. I just decided to pick out some of the top six and or seven. I don't even know how many I said. But I hope you can count your blessings and realize how amazing that is the third thing is I hope that You understand that there's more to success in anything than just luck I don't I really it's at some point you just have to believe that is luck involved.

Yes, absolutely But there are choices there are decisions and we don't know a lot of the time, the consequences of our decisions and what's gonna happen. But I believe it's like being a farmer. I believe that what we do in life is we have to sow seeds. And for me, I think of a lot of those seeds that I've sown our relationships. I've sown seeds in people and I've sown seeds with the decisions that I have made. And those seeds of many of them have grown into tremendous, tremendous trees that have borne me tremendous, tremendous fruit. And it's been amazing. The decision I made to do ban, the decision I made to do martial arts, the decision I made to switch into that math class and the decision I made to not take my own life, the decision I made to get into business, even though I never thought that I'd be in the world of business. I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. That was never a thing in my mind. The decision to start this podcast.

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the decision to build relationships with certain people. I mean, it's amazing. And but what did I do is I planted seeds and some of them have born fruit and some of them didn't. Many of them didn't. I can tell you I tried to do, you know, do well in writing articles for a long time and that didn't bear fruit for me. I'll tell you that. I did videos long, I mean, obviously nowadays I'm doing a lot more videos on social media and some of them have had some incredible results and that has really been awesome for me. And obviously I've had this podcast, but I actually tried to do videos four or five years ago and I didn't really get much traction with it. So that seed did not bear fruit for a while.

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There were many many seas that I've sewn many many relationships that I've tried to build and people who I've tried to get to know and connect with. And you know what, I'm not saying that I tried to do it because I wanted something to bear fruit because I didn't, I only see the fruit in retrospect and I didn't realize it back then, but I just wanted to build some relationships with people. And some of them have borne me fruit and some of them haven't but I think that as we continue to sow the right seeds I think some of them will bear fruit. That's my belief.

So yes, is it luck that some of those seeds have borne fruit? Yes. But I don't think we can say it was just luck. If out of 10 seeds one gets, you know, one bears fruit or two bears fruit or three bears fruit.

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It's luck of how many of them choose to bear fruit, but it's up to each and every one of us, the seeds that we are sowing and how many we are choosing to sow. Because if you sow an orange tree, you're going to get an orange. You ain't going to get an apple. You ain't going to get, you know, whatever other kind of plants there are. You're not going to get rice. If you did an orange, you're going to get an orange. Now many oranges did you sow, right? That's the kind of questions. And so I think that's for me the answer to that question, that thought that I had a couple days ago, what is the role that luck plays in our life?

Hope you found this interesting and insightful. Hope it's beneficial for you. And yeah, just wishing you all the very, very best. By the way, if my voice is a little strained, or seems a little strained, that's because it is. It's been a long day. All the best. Bye.