“Success is just a matter of luck, ask any failure.”
Earl Wilson
When we talk about success, many people think of luck. But luck isn't something we can rely on. Instead, we need to focus on what we can control. Let’s explore how to change our perspectives from relying on luck to creating our own opportunities.
Be Real with Ourselves
The first step is honesty. We must be honest with ourselves about where we stand. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when we have big goals. We can break things down to avoid that and focus on executing our plans confidently. We will get overloaded if we take on too many tasks at once.
Luck doesn’t magically solve problems—consistent effort does.
Luck Isn't Real – But We Can Improve Our Chances
While pure luck may not be real in how we often think of it, we can definitely increase the chances of things working in our favor. Author Shane Parrish breaks down luck into five types:
Blind luck – The kind of luck that happens by chance.
Action luck – When taking action, it leads to lucky outcomes.
Preparation luck – Luck that occurs when we're ready for opportunities.
Persistence luck – When not giving up creates luck.
Reputation luck – When our character attracts opportunities, others might call it "luck."
We cannot control blind luck, but we can influence the other four types. We can put chance on our side by taking action, preparing, being persistent, and building a solid reputation.
Success Is Never Accidental
“Success is never accidental.”
Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter & Square)
When we look at people who have achieved great things, it’s easy to think they just got lucky. But, as Peter Thiel explains in Zero to One, success comes from hard work and preparation. Companies may start in unique circumstances, but every one of them requires a plan, effort, and an understanding of the future.
If we treat the future as something we can shape, we’ll work to make it better. But if we think the future is all random, it’s easy to give up and let things happen to us.
Success comes from believing the future is something we can shape.
Embrace Failure to Succeed
“Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances.… Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (Self-Reliance)
Failing is not the opposite of success. It's part of the journey. When we learn from failure, we build the experience that increases our chances of success. Instead of hoping for a stroke of luck, we can set our sights on improving our skills so that we are ready to grab opportunities when opportunities come.
Consistent “failure” creates more success than aiming for perfection.
Resilience: Bouncing Back From Setbacks
While persistence is about not giving up, resilience is about how we handle the setbacks we face. Failure can be discouraging, but the ability to bounce back and keep going is a crucial trait of successful people. Resilience means learning from each mistake and becoming stronger because of it. In a way, resilience is the "muscle" that allows persistence to keep working over the long term.
"Fall seven times, stand up eight."
Japanese Proverb
The ability to stand back up after falling is often the difference between those who achieve success and those who don’t.
Increasing Luck
So, how do we increase our chances of luck? Here are some ways to make sure that we're in the right place at the right time:
Prepare the mind and be sensitive to the changes others miss: Stay curious and always be ready to learn something new. This way, when an opportunity comes, we can recognize it.
Hustle until we stumble into it: Keep working, even when nothing is happening. The more we hustle, the more chances we create for success.
Become the best at what we do: When we become the best, opportunities will seek us out. It’s not just about working hard—it's about refining our skills so much that people can't ignore us.
Character and Reputation Matter
“Your character and your reputation are things you can build, which will let you take advantage of opportunities other people may characterize as lucky, but you know it wasn’t luck.”
Naval Ravikant
Reputation and character play a huge role in creating "luck." More opportunities will come our way when people trust us, and we’ve proven ourselves reliable. We become someone others want to work with, which puts us in a position to succeed even more.
While luck may seem random, we have more control over our futures than we think. We can influence our luck by being honest with ourselves, embracing failure, and staying persistent. By preparing, taking action, and refining our skills, we'll find that what others call "luck" is really just the result of our hard work.
“Victory awaits him who has everything in order—luck, people call it.”
Roald Amundsen (Norwegian Explorer)
The truth is that success doesn’t happen by accident—it happens when we create the conditions for it to thrive. We get lucky when we stop waiting for a lucky break and start building our own.