Thanks for the thoughtful reply @vieira, appreciate your perspective.

Maybe there are really two parts to the whole equation.

Let's say you catch a free ride to town... that's "lucky," but you only caught that free ride because you walked out of your neighborhood and stood by a busy road which is the "work" part by which we create luck. So yes, there is an element of luck, because you could have walked to the road and not gotten a ride.

Part of what inspired this post is the recollection of how you often tend to notice what you're interested in. I sometimes call it the car shopping effect. If you're shopping for a car, and have decided you want to get a yellow VW, you'll suddenly notice that there seem to be many more yellow VW's around than before. Actually, there are the exact same amount, you're just paying attention now. And because you're paying attention, it's more likely that something specific will happen, than when you are NOT.