What Are My Odds?

It’s April First. What are my odds that someone will try an April Fool’s Prank on me today?
It’s Monday. What are my odds that I will experience a “Blue Monday?”
It’s morning. What are my odds of having a productive day?
I’m nearing retirement. What are my odds that I’ve prepared well?

Someone I know was given a 50-50 chance of surviving surgery. I ask.

Chance. Odds. Statistics.

In many cases, we improve our success opportunities by being prepared. If I depend on luck, then I must understand something important. With some things, the odds are never in your favor.

I checked out this article to see about my odds in winning the Powerball and I wonder why so many play. You have better odds to die or suffer life changing events than winning a lottery!

How can I improve my odds?

Another article says to improve heart health, it matters little how much you sit and do nothing. What matters more is how much you get up and move. Take a walk. Exercise. Ease the mind. Lose weight Unload stress. Eat better. Quit smoking and drugs.

In other words, for most everything we focus on,
there are ways to improve our odds of success.

Dave Ramsey says you improve life by living well below your means. Don’t buy on credit. Live on a cash basis – as in, if you have no cash you don’t buy it!

Odds are improved by bettering our circumstances and knowledge.
Odds are improved by knowing where we are and going where we can.
Odds are improved when we see our options with clarity.

The problem may be our timidity. Winning often favors the bold. Those who are willing to risk, make a mistake, lose, and determine how to bounce back better than before.

Memorable people do memorable things.
Followers are seldom remembered.
The herd mentality is the killer of innovation.
When appropriate, be bold in your undertakings.
~Gad Saad

I believe the odds of improving yourself are found in your daily action.

Are you always learning, or just floating through the day?
Will you listen more than you talk?
Do you take chances when the danger is real, or do you cower behind others?
Are you a leader, and will you take chance of leading others forward, or are you happy to let others be in charge and criticize when they fail?

Improving my odds? Every day, I pray, and all the time, I hope, I’m not going to sit back and let others take chances for my betterment. I will strive to be better at making my life a better opportunity for success.

Define Your Odds

Think about the Good Samaritan. That’s what we know him as. Yet, we seldom think about the victim of the crime. What are the odds the man would be attacked? We don’t know the entire story. What are the odds that religious people would bypass the wounded? Hmmm. That may be more easily calculated. Who would have guessed that a Samaritan (you have to know who they are to understand this) would be the savior of the wounded and be granted the title of a “neighbor.”

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
(Luke 10:30-36 NKJV)

Notice that word I highlighted. Chance. This is the only time this word is used in the KJV. What are the odds that Jesus was only using the Priest as an example, or was the story related to the odds that a Priest would take this route by himself?

Maybe I’m trying to say this. You never have anything without willing to risk something. What are you willing to lose and know it will be tough to regain or recoup?

Losers live in the past.
Winners learn from the past
and enjoy working in the present
toward the future.
~Denis Waitley

It’s really up to you.

A Final Thought

I believe in Prayer.
Doctors may say one thing.
But never discount God.
Naysayers have their day.
I have my God.

What Are My Odds by AI

In the labyrinth of chance we tread,
Where fate’s dice are cast and led.
Odds entwine in patterns bold,
In the tales of fortune told.

With every spin and every throw,
The dance of probability aglow.
In the calculus of luck and fate,
Destiny we contemplate.

Yet amidst the chaos, a subtle rhyme,
As numbers weave through space and time.
For in the realm where chance holds sway,
Hope’s ember flickers, come what may.

So calculate the odds, if you dare,
But remember life’s uncertainties rare.
In the alchemy of risk and gain,
We find our path, through sun and rain.

Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!