Ask Lemmy

Murphy's Law says anything that can go wrong will go wrong. My more optimistic version is that the way to make things go right is to make it impossible for them not to. This just makes me proactive - for example, I assume that if I set a bag of groceries down next to a wall without thinking, it will lean away from the wall and tip over. So I just always give bags a half turn before I set them down, and Bingpot! they obediently lean against the wall and stay standing up. It might not exactly be a superstition because I don't think mystical forces are involved. Rather I think a perverse part of our own brains subliminally plans these little accidents for amusement. But once you start using the conscious part of your brain to subvert the plan. those little snafus start not happening.

Similar principle applies to looking for things - say like I'm trying to find my tape measure. I've learned that if I can't find it in a very brief time and consciously decide to do something different - like go to the store and get another tape measure - most often within a couple seconds I will look right at the tape measure, or whatever it is. Pretending isn't enough - I have to sincerely decide to give up searching. My theory on this is that deep down I know where the object is, but part of me is enjoying the treasure hunt so it won't let the knowledge rise to the surface. Once that part of me realizes the game is over, it stops hiding the information and I seemingly at random look right where the thing is.

Maybe believing in these little brain functions is the superstition.