That’s the question Clint Eastwood posed to Albert Popwell as he lay bleeding on the streets of San Francisco after Dirty Harry shot him escaping from an unsuccessful attempt at robbing a bank. “Did he fire five shots or six?” Popwell didn’t trust his instinct and lost an opportunity to take out Detective Harry Callahan and save us from a string of mediocre sequels…
We can make our own luck. In his book “The Luck Factor,” author Richard Wiseman, identified four common traits in inherently lucky people.
- They leap at opportunities.
- They listen to their intuition.
- They are optimists.
- They are resilient.
The last time I did the first three; used my intuition, felt optimistic and leapt at an opportunity, I bought stock in Richard Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic at about $25.00 a share. Branson almost immediately sold a block of his personal holdings. The stock is now hovering far from outer space at about $4.00 a share. But I’m still here so I guess I am resilient. One out of four!
I did have all four traits and amazing luck about 48 years ago when I met Linda and she said “YES!” That’s enough luck for anyone. But if you happen to have a hot stock tip I’m all ears!