Flying Thoughts: Success is Dumb Luck

My flying thought for today; success is dumb luck. Well, mostly.

It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Hard work and hard work alone won’t lead to you becoming the most successful person on the planet. You can work day and night and never become ‘successful’.

But what does success mean to you? Does success mean wealth? Does success mean being happy? Does success mean travelling, family, making a difference?

We all have different definitions of success. Different goal posts. Different ideals. Some of which we have more control over than others. However, most people would agree that success involves some level of financial stability, not necessarily millionaire levels of wealth, but enough that they don’t have to worry about money. Your career, your livelihood, all of that depends upon both factors within and outside of your control.

Were we born male or female? Where were we born? What is our level of intelligence? Are we healthy? Did we attend a good school? Are our parents supportive? Do we have a special talent? Some people are lucky enough to hit the lottery win in terms of factors outside their control, while others don’t get a single number. Does that mean the lottery winner will be successful and the lottery loser unsuccessful? Not at all. But the odds are either for or against you. That’s just the way the world works. Warren Buffet referred to this as the Ovarian Lottery.

You can work your socks off, but if the stars don’t align, then your success will be relative. It’s a Sliding Doors situation, for those of you old enough to have seen the film. I will be the first to admit that I have been lucky in business. I’ve been in the right places at the right times. But, let me tell you something, I’ve worked damn hard too. Luck alone is not enough to guarantee success.

The fact that people become defensive if you tell them some element of luck contributed to their success is beyond me. I know plenty of people as smart as I am, if not smarter, who have not been as successful as me, simply because they haven’t stumbled across the same opportunities as I have. That’s the only reason. I’ve worked my arse off to get to where I am, but of course, luck is a factor here. Yes, I’m ‘self-made’. I came from a normal, working-class family. But would I have still been self-made if the stars didn’t align and put me on this path, likely not!

The moral of this story?

Luck is a considerable factor to success.

But, without hard work, your success has a ceiling value. You can only get so far on sheer, dumb luck alone.

You need to work hard. You need to do your best with the cards you’ve been dealt. You need to plan for the worst and hope for the best. After all, that’s all a person can do. The rest is the luck of the draw. Do you consider yourself to have been lucky?