Sagacity, Strength, and Luck

You have the power to control two of these.

Jun 26, 2020

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*A Fair Wind* by Winslow Homer, c. 1874 (public domain - Wikipedia)

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“An ancient writer says, very truly: that there are three great powers in the world: sagacity, strength, and luck.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851

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In the previous edition of Timeless & Timely, I wrote about leadership lessons I gleaned from Maria Konnikova’s remarkable tale of a sabbatical that made her a poker champion, as she chronicled in The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win.

Timeless & Timely

What Poker Can Teach Us About Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

“But for its costliness and dangers, no better education for life among men could be devised than the gambling table—especially the poker table.” — Clemens France, 1902 I can’t remember when I first became aware of Maria Konnikova. Most likely, it’s from her…

5 years ago · 4 likes · Scott Monty

As I prepared this Subscriber-only update for you (Friday’s update is usually a deeper dive, alternate angle, or personal story related to the week’s topic; you can subscribe to read them.), I reread the essay and came across this paragraph:

“Call them luck, call them fortune, call them chance or superstition, it’s all the same: circumstances that we can’t control. But if we put ourselves in the proper mindset, we can tilt ourselves one way or another, as a sail catches wind.”

I remember struggling with the second …

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