Order Out of Chaos

Certainty does not exist in this world. Yes it feels nice to assume so, but it simply is not there. People like the idea of having stability like that of a job, as it provides a sense of certainty with every paycheck. They have however ignored the fact that vocational demand relies heavily on performance of employers; i.e. they put their lives at the mercy of the local economies.

Conventional “wisdom” then pushes the idea of luck determining winners from losers of life, mathematicians beg to differ. Most individual events occur with arbitrary outcomes; collectively, respectable forecasts have become possible.

E.g. it is unfeasible to predict how long it takes an individual atomic nucleus to lose energy, or experience “radioactive decay”. But studied collectively, the half-life periods of groups of them remain stable. This makes the outcome predictable. Ironic, isn’t it?

Finding and exploiting order out from randomness has served many business models well for centuries, most apparently the lottery scheme, casinos, and the financial markets. The minds behind these industries designed the games in deterministic manners.
The sole purpose of them serves to extract wealth from the uninformed public, hence the veil of mystique.

The next logical question lies in how one could learn and understand all this, then apply it to gain an edge in business. (Yes it is all about selling. Even in the form of a job, you basically offer your time for monetary gains in return.)

Statistics & Probability Theory
Learn the math and work the numbers. The path of least resistance lies in finding areas of high demand for particular skills you possess. No sure-fire winning methods exist for success in business, yet a bit of research and planning could provide an immense head start against the majority (losers).

Hard work alone is not sufficient. I have seen plenty of people working very hard at McDonald. You must learn to plan and research efficiently and diligently. The mind provides much more aggregate value than physical work; this explains why successful corporations focus so much in Research & Development. Educate yourself, make the odds swing your way, it is worth it.