Felt Lucky but Why?

[Zinjanthropos]

MR might like this one. Purely anecdotal but this really happened to me today…

My wife and I were invited to an afternoon party today. Begrudgingly I went just to keep the missus happy. When we got there I received the worst news possible, all invitees (50 approx) had to play this certain party game. Party games are not up there on my list of favourite things to do. During the game, which was timed for 1 hour, I barely participated. Near the end of the game the gal who was currently in first place came over to chat.

The key to the game was to avoid saying a certain word. If you said it you had to relinquish a tag and any other person’s tag you had collected to that point. I figured she had come over to see if she could claim my tag. That kind of spurred me on, so I thought I’d see if I could appear totally disinterested yet at same time catch her with guard down. With about two minutes left I did and now I possessed a vast majority of the tags and held on to win. I had done the least but won the prize. Then it happened.

Forgot to mention there was a 2nd party game, a door prize drawn after the tag game was completed. I said to my wife as soon as I won the tag game that I had this overwhelming feeling my name was going to be pulled from the hat for the door prize. It was such a strong feeling that I told a few friends prior to the draw. In fact I was telling a friend when the name was drawn. I never heard my name actually drawn but everyone I had talked to were astonished that I had won the door prize too.

I’ve tried to figure out why I suddenly felt I would win the draw. Perhaps all my experiences in life had increased my chances of winning a draw because there’s only so much bad luck one can take before the odds stack up in your favour. Perhaps my brain had done the calculation and this was the moment. I just wish it was the national lottery.

Anyone ever get that feeling? I wonder if winners all experience something similar. I didn’t care about either contest but I ended up winning both. What gives?

[C C]

[...] Anyone ever get that feeling? I wonder if winners all experience something similar. I didn’t care about either contest but I ended up winning both. What gives?

I can relate to getting a clear feeling like that when one is distracted, indifferent, or even annoyed with regard to _X_ situation.

Many years ago, a few co-workers and I attended an open house thrown by an organization that ours had transactions with. Amidst the gathering, they had set up a contest for several prizes. The box was already stuffed with entries when I very reluctantly added my name, with the rest of our group.

I actually mildly dreaded the idea of winning, because the top prize would have been more a bother to me than what it was in terms of being useful to me. But as soon as I walked away, I knew that was exactly what was going to happen. A couple of days later, one of the office minions told me that they had received a call informing them that somebody in our bunch (i.e., me) had won it.

[Zinjanthropos]

[...] Anyone ever get that feeling? I wonder if winners all experience something similar. I didn’t care about either contest but I ended up winning both. What gives?

I can relate to getting a clear feeling like that when one is distracted, indifferent, or even annoyed with regard to _X_ situation.

Many years ago, a few co-workers and I attended an open house thrown by an organization that ours had transactions with. Amidst the gathering, they had set up a contest for several prizes. The box was already stuffed with entries when I very reluctantly added my name, with the rest of our group.

I actually mildly dreaded the idea of winning, because the top prize would have been more a bother to me than what it was in terms of being useful to me. But as soon as I walked away, I knew that was exactly what was going to happen. A couple of days later, one of the office minions told me that they had received a call informing them that somebody in our bunch (i.e., me) had won it.

I'm sure that happens a lot, winning when you don't want to. Still as if a clear signal is given that you will win. It's like the universe is saying it's your turn. The same universe you can try and influence using reverse psychology, like turning TV off when your team is losing, as if you're giving them a chance by not watching.

[Magical Realist]

Once when I was going to boarding school we were all gathered at a church service. The speaker announced they were having a drawing for a door prize so we all started writing our names down on slips of paper. My girlfriend asked me if I wanted to win and I said yeah and she folded my slip in a certain way and we put it in the bowl that was being passed around. Sure enough the speaker drew the slip from the bowl and it was me! I never figured out how she did it. Maybe she was a witch.