A fly and luck

Jason Fried describes almost washing his hands with a tiny fly sitting by the drain. Turning on the tap would have sent it down, but a moment of hesitation let the fly escape on its own. The essay uses this small moment to reflect on how often people are unaware of the luck shaping their outcomes. It is a brief, personal reflection rather than a how-to, but it offers a useful reminder about humility and unseen contingency.

01Key takeaways

• Many outcomes depend on invisible decisions made by others, so good results are often partly luck.
• Pausing before acting can create room for better outcomes you might otherwise miss.
• Expect that you are benefiting from circumstances you cannot see, which encourages humility.
• Treat your own successes with some perspective, recognizing how much chance may have contributed.

02Key sections

A near miss at the sink

The author notices a fly by the drain just as he is about to turn on the water. The moment is set up as an ordinary action that could have had a fatal outcome.

A pause that changed things

Fried hesitates and considers alternatives, and in that gap the fly takes off. The outcome depended on a choice the fly never saw being made.

Luck the fly never knew about

The fly had no awareness of the danger or the rescue, so it could not appreciate its good fortune. The author frames this as a plain fact about being unaware of one's luck.

Turning the lens on ourselves

The essay asks how often people are in the same position, unaware of how lucky they are. The answer offered is that it is probably always the case.

03From the post

“There was a tiny fly right by the drain, and I was about to wash my hands. Turning on the water would have sent it right down the hole. A quick end, or an eventual struggled drowning, hard to know. But that would be that, there was no getting out. Somehow, for a moment, I slipped into contemplation. I could…”

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.