Wanczyk raked in a $758.7 million jackpot, the largest single-ticket winning in North American history. She told a captivated press of having "always" nursed the vision of instant wealth showering down at random. "It's just a chance I had to take." Deep down, we all know how feelings like this can distort and corrupt our view of how to live well. Many of us have heard the horror stories of lottery winners who blew through their fortunes on fleeting luxuries that shined so brightly because they had not managed to build a life of modest but durable goods.