Dan Siroker, CEO of Optimizely, writes about the 3 unconventional questions to ask every job candidate in an article for Forbes. One stands out: "On a scale of 1-10, how lucky are you?"

Siroker explains: "Great companies are built by people who can embrace their humility. (...). Warren Buffett likes to say he won the ovarian lottery. If he had been born into another era he might have been some animal’s lunch. We need candidates who are self-aware enough to understand that hard work isn’t enough to guarantee success — we need individuals who are grateful for where they’ve landed in life. Our success is a function of being at the right place at the right time."

An article from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology called "From What Might Have Been to What Must Have Been: Counterfactual Thinking Creates Meaning" states: "Rather than implying a random quality to life, the authors hypothesized and found that, counterfactual thinking heightens the meaningfulness of key life experiences. (...) Fate perceptions (“it was meant to be”) and benefit-finding (recognition of positive consequences) were identified as independent causal links between counterfactual thinking and the construction of meaning. Through counterfactual reflection, the upsides to reality are identified, a belief in fate emerges, and ultimately more meaning is derived from important life events"

Am I really preaching Fate and Fortune ? Yes :) "What did I do to deserve this ?" is a double-edged sword. It's a great way to pity your situation. But try to flip that thinking tool: The things we're most grateful for are the ones we didn't work to get (good weather, a mother's love etc.). "What did I do deserve these amazing things ?" Absolutely nothing you lucky creature !! So sit down, bathe in how amazing it is to be the free-rider of Life's beauties and send a flying kiss to the symbolic goddess of fortune ;D