Turning Points
It is actually possible to anticipate favorable chances. Chance, which produces the effects in our lives that we call luck, has its own way of behaving. We need to become aware of two marked tendencies in the fall of chance: rhythm and interconnection.
Chance follows the same rhythm of nature. It is not an even, unbroken rhythm. We can learn to expect the alternation of runs of chance; moreover we can learn to expect it more at certain times than others. The runs of chance in life are normally short. After similar chances have appeared in succession several times, we have every reason to expect a change. This calls for expectancy and alertness.
As the rhythm of chance often points to the turning points of life, so does the characteristic that I have called interconnection. From time to time, two or more interlocking chances in close succession touch almost every life. And it is at these points where luck reveals its power most dramatically. At such times, by alertness, we can often “pyramid” our luck, using the luck of the first chance as a steppingstone to the greater luck of the others.
It is a fact of many, and perhaps most lives, that large fulfillments come not at a steady pace but by sudden leaps. After a single lucky chance we are wise to keep all of our senses alert for other chances that may interlock with the first, and provide a major turning point of life. The conscious effort to be alert to chance seems especially productive of turning points in periods of pronounced social change, when the old order is upturned.
Enthusiasm for the spectacular and impatience with the commonplace chances of life are likely to result in peaks of good luck alternating with deep valleys of misfortune. The reservoir of luck in each of us is far more often tapped by chance in frequent little jets than in big bursts.
We must also keep alert in the face of crucial chances. To do so we need to maintain our physical energy at a high level. A sound regimen of diet, sleep, and exercise, helps assure the ability of our alertness and mental acuity. Beyond this, we can generate alertness through imaginative anticipation. Obviously we cannot anticipate all eventualities, but we can often decide in advance what we shall do if certain common chances befall us.
Finally, when the occurrence of a chance seems fairly probable, a single preparatory action can go far to maintain the essential alertness until the event takes place.