Jason Fried

July 19, 2025

A fly and luck

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 just turn on the water, I could rescue it, I could use a different sink. Had I not even seen the fly, the water would already been on, its invisible fate secured.

But in that moment of maybe, the fly launched and flew away.

Since it didn't know what I was about to do, and what that would do to it, it had absolutely no idea how lucky it was.

And then I wondered. How often am I in that same position? No idea how lucky I am.

Often, probably always.

-Jason

About Jason Fried

Hey! I'm Jason, the Co-Founder and CEO at 37signals, makers of Basecamp and HEY. Subscribe below to follow my thinking on business, design, product development, and whatever else is on my mind. Thanks for visiting, thanks for reading.