If you were to flip a coin ten times, the chances of getting all heads are 0.1%. But if you were to flip the coin a million times, the chances of getting a run of 10 heads in a row go up to 8.7%.
In a sufficiently large number of events, the chances of what we might consider a rare occurrence are actually higher than we expect. Unfortunately, humans are, for the most part, unable to comprehend large numbers. This leads us to search for things to which we can ascribe such events. The usual suspect is a god or all-powerful being of some sort. Another common mistake is to ascribe them to ourselves. The explanation for most events in life lie somewhere between order and chaos. To ascribe it completely to one or the other is a mistake.
Often, when listening to people explain their success, I am struck by how few of them credit luck for their achievements. If we stop and think about it, most of what happens to us is the result of a sequence of totally unplanned and random events.
I hardly ever miss a flight, train, or bus. I credit this to my habit of always being before time. Does this mean that I've never ever missed a journey? A few years ago, I was in Mumbai to handle some training. When going from Hyderabad to Mumbai, train stopped at Kalyan, then Dadar, finally Mumbai. On my return journey, I decided to board from Dadar. I reached the station three hours before time. But with 15 minutes to go before the train started from Mumbai, I learned that on the return journey, it didn't have a halt at Dadar. I missed the train.
Do something enough times and you are bound to either encounter every permutation and combination possible or never encounter some.
So does this mean that creating plans is a futile activity? Far from it. There are many variables that remain within our control. It is important to recognize these and plan for those. It is also important to realize what is not within our control and not waste energy worrying about them.
As children, you most probably heard the fable of The Tortoise and The Hare. This is my favorite fable since it has so many different lessons to teach us. One of the lessons is to not worry about what we cannot control - in this case, the actions of the hare. All we can do is continue to do the things that are in our control - in this case, keep moving towards the Finish line.
Before I sign off, I have made an interesting observation: the more you do the things in your control correctly, the more often the things outside your control fall in place to help you succeed.
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