Does LUCK make you successful in life?

This question was put forth to me by someone a few months back. My immediate answer was Yes, as I strongly believe in the importance of LUCK in the success path. To validate this, I thought it would be interesting to find out what others think about this.

To capture the inputs from others, I ran a poll on my website asking on the role of LUCK to achieve success in life.

The findings were interesting.

59% of the respondents believe that LUCK does play an important role in the path to success in life.

30% are unsure if LUCK plays a role and helps you achieve success in life.

11% do not believe LUCK contributes to your success in life.

With this data, we can conclude that majority believe that LUCK makes you successful in life?

If this sounds interesting, please read on for further details.

About the Poll

I had created the poll with the question.

“Do you believe LUCK plays an important role in helping you achieve success in life?”

To capture some more details, I also requested respondents to provide any supporting comments.

Although the comments were not mandatory, I got them from about 83% of the respondents.

I had circulated this among my family, relatives, friends, colleagues, connections on social media to collate their views.

Indeed, I was LUCKY to get a good representative sample. I had kept the survey open for about ten days.

Before I proceed further, I must thank my family, relatives, friends, colleagues, connections on social media, etc. who participated in good numbers and shared their valuable inputs with me. And I am grateful to each one of them for sparing their valuable time and sharing their views very quickly. Without their support, this post would not have been possible.

Now, let me move on to the details.

What is LUCK?

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘LUCK’ as a force that brings good fortune or adversity. To check further please click .

As per Wikipedia, LUCK is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of notably positive, negative, or improbable events. To get more details please click .

Per Cambridge English Dictionary ‘LUCK’ is the force that causes things, especially good things, to happen to you by chance and not because of your efforts or abilities. To find more details please click .

These references indicate LUCK could be a set of events that happen by chance in your life. It may not be entirely in your control. Or a result of your efforts. It could bring either a positive or negative effect on you.

Does LUCK exist?

If you ask this to people, search the internet, or try other means, you will get mixed responses. Many people who believe in LUCK. Some psychologists and scientists have conducted experiments to prove the existence of LUCK.

At the same time, many people do not believe in LUCK. There are also people giving explanations against the existence of LUCK.

If we take the example of an unbiased coin, with each toss of the coin, there is a 50% probability of getting a heads up. However, the probability of getting heads seven times in seven tosses is less than 1%. If somebody were to get this, I feel he can be considered LUCKY.

Some people may feel if the person can do this once it is random. However, if the same person can do this multiple times, then it is not due to LUCK. But it could be the skill of the person or some other reason.

Different Attribution of LUCK to the same Event

It is also true that for any event, there are different interpretations based on your circumstances. It also depends on your belief in LUCK – good or bad. 

If someone met with an accident, you could consider it bad LUCK.  However, on an escape with minor injuries, you may think of it being good LUCK.

Again, people who believe in LUCK will consider the person lucky that he escaped with minor injuries. At the same time, some people can also call it bad LUCK that the accident happened.

Does LUCK make you successful in life?

Here I shall bring in the findings from the poll which I conducted.

I had asked a simple question in the poll.

“Do you believe LUCK plays an important role in helping you achieve success in life?”

Besides, I also asked respondents to give comments in support of their response.

I was LUCKY to get a good representative sample where  83% of people gave valuable comments.

Poll findings

59% of the respondents believe that LUCK helps in the path to success in life.

30% are unsure if LUCK helps you achieve success in life.

11% do not feel that LUCK helps contribute to your success in life.

Therefore, we can conclude that the majority believe that LUCK makes you successful in life.

Inputs from people who believe LUCK makes you successful in life

Among the people who believe LUCK helps you in achieving success in life

• 42% strongly believe LUCK plays the primary role in your success and other things are secondary
• 28% equate LUCK to be at the right place at the right time and hence believe this helps to achieve success
• 17% believe that LUCK along with hard work helps you achieve success
• Rest associate LUCK with proper preparation, past Karma, actions and being in good company

Inputs from people who are unsure if LUCK makes you successful in life

Among the people who are not sure of how LUCK helps you achieve success in life

• 29% believe that hard work probably plays a more important role
• 25% are unsure if it is LUCK or something else that plays a role in your success
• 17% feel LUCK contributes to a small extent in your success path
• 12% believe it is destiny that plays a role
• 8% feel being at the right place leads to the success
• Rest of the people feel that you can achieve success either due to smart work or due to incorrect actions of others  

Inputs from people who do not believe LUCK makes you successful in life

Among the people who do not believe LUCK plays an important role in your success in life

• 44% believe that hard work plays an important role
• 22% believe success is due to your Karmas of the past
• Rest feel LUCK has no role or is an illusion

Factors leading to individual success

I have put a summary of my analysis based on the poll findings as below

Success has three main determinants, viz., Calibre, Effort, and Chance, perhaps in equal proportion. In practice, these play in all combinations. However, the definition of success varies with individuals. It could mean the achievement of goals to some while others may equate to wealth and fame.    

Caliber:

We inherit from our lineage. These could be genetic, but the initial environment under which we are born could also contribute to this. Then, we may substitute “Caliber” with “Inherited’. We may also link this to Talent, Skills, Capabilities, Aptitude, etc some of which are inherent and some we acquire.

But are these enough to ensure success? If we look around us, we will find many talented people. However, all of them may not be successful. In fact, it may turn out that the most successful people are not the most talented people. And the most talented people may not achieve great success as per their potential.

Most of these are not in our control but are important, nevertheless. However, the key is to recognize the right opportunity when it comes. And then leverage our caliber, skills, talent, etc to make the best use of this opportunity. Of course, we must put in the effort as well to ensure we achieve and sustain success.

Chance:

Chance is by which LUCK or UNLUCK operates.

It is something on which we have no control like the caliber. It is a purely random phenomenon that can bring success or failure.

However, chance favors the prepared meaning, effort influences chance.

Practically, it also means being in the right place at the right time. 

Is that enough to be successful? Not really. The chance may present an opportunity, but we need to recognize this when it comes. Then back it up with our talent and efforts to utilize this opportunity to achieve success.

The chance may bring you success maybe once, but if we do not put in the persistent effort it may not last long.

Effort:

Regardless of any other component, the effort has a pivotal role in achieving success. Without effort, only chance can bring us success. Every failure is indeed a stepping stone to success. A child while learning to walk may fall many times but every time it must get up and try to walk. That is the nature of effort for a successful person.

However, the effort only may not ensure success. We do find a lot of hardworking people who do not achieve the success they desire. Our inherent skills, talent, or caliber does play a part. At the same time, there is an element of luck as well to ensure success.  To ensure persistent success we need to complement the other components with dedicated effort.

However, unlike the other components of individual success, the effort is in our control.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, you can conclude that LUCK does play a role in your success in life. However, it is not the only component that will help you achieve success in life.

The fact is that role of LUCK cannot be isolated from the other components leading to success. In fact, it is the interplay of the above three that determines your success or failure.

However, the effort is the only component that can be modified by us. Both caliber and LUCK are not in our hands. 

LUCK may bring an opportunity to you but without effort, it will not be persistent. You need to recognize the opportunity when it comes and then put dedicated effort to make the best use of this.

Good / Bad LUCK is not in your control but the effort you put in in in your control. Sustained efforts along with a push from LUCK will lead you to success in life.

I would like to know your views, comments on this post. Please do share.

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