I told you Sod’s Law was real – a descriptive formula for the law has been calculated, and by a Cardiff University lecturer no less. Mathematically it is expressed as:
1/8Ti x I 3/8 + O + Sb
P + M
with:
- Task Importance (Ti)
- Inconvenience, and financial and emotional cost of task not going to plan (I)
- Optimism – the tendency to think everything will work out fine (O)
- Background Personal Stress Levels (Sb)
- Extent of Planning (P)
- Memory – especially for things that worked out well
I’m not entirely sure how I’ll be using this on a day to day basis, but it’s a good start to changing some of the variables and avoiding the effects of Sod’s law.
Link to BBC article.