Are You Successful? Or Just Lucky?

Luck: producing a good result by chance;
suggests being rewarded beyond one's just desserts

"I would say ‘good luck,’ but I don’t believe in good luck.
Go make it happen. This is my story. Now it’s time to write your own."
Seattle QB Russell Wilson
2016 commencement speech 

It has become popular in some circles to say that any success that you’ve experienced is not a result of your own efforts. That’s right. You didn't have anything to do with it. Instead your success was simply a matter of...luck.

That's right, you were just lucky. The right family. The right circumstances. The right time in history. Just plain old luck. You had it; the other guy didn’t.

And without that LUCK, you would be in the same boat as the rest of those poor UNLUCKY people who have failed to produce the fruits of success.

That this is a sentiment so completely wrong-headed and dangerous compels me to defend your success – to defend your hard work, your failures, your tenacity, your struggles, your choices, your decisions, and your ability to overcome adversity.

The truth is, the attempt to attribute success to luck is just plain silly.

First, how many ‘born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his-mouth’ failures have you seen? People with seemingly everything going for them that wind up crashing and burning? Success should have been automatic with all the “luck” they were handed, right?

Well...not so much.

Second, how many times have you witnessed someone overcome great adversity and go on to be successful? Regardless of socio-economic status. Without the benefit of college, or standing, or connections? Were they lucky, too? Doesn’t it seem a bit contradictory to ascribe one success to hard work and the other to luck? In fact, where is the line? At what point would it transition from luck to...whatever you’re calling it.

YES, yes, yes! Yes, I hear you screaming. “What about those people who have definitely been handed everything?”

Yes, there is a very small percentage of people that get a big head-start in life and wind up doing well. Yes, they ARE from the right family, and they have money, and they experience privilege from the jump, and they become successful. Or, at least they don’t screw it up too badly.

Lucky, right?

Sure. In that sense, those people definitely benefited from good fortune. No question. But, since people tend to call the group these fortunate people come from the “1 percent-ers,” it’s seems pretty clear the subset or those who fall in that category is smaller still. In other words, they are a small part of the universe, but we want to make them the rule rather than the exception, applying the idea to everyone who is successful.

The truth is, it gives you the perfect excuse, doesn’t it? It’s the perfect salve for what ails YOU. You’re not as successful as you want to be, or as successful as the other guy, but it’s simply not YOUR fault.

Well, lucky you!! 

Yes, ironically, in your failure, you have been lucky as well. 

Weird.

Remember, the idea is that your success was not your doing at all. Instead, you were just the lucky beneficiary of a number of factors – a number of advantages – you had no control over. But, attributing anyone’s success strictly to luck or those advantages creates a number of problems:

1. It assumes that those “lucky” people (who got all the breaks) never faced any kind of adversity or bias or pushback. Everything was just easy. Period.
2. It assumes that everyone starts with exactly the same talent and the same drive, and only those that were “lucky” are successful.
3. It diminishes your efforts, your willpower, your discipline, your work ethic, your creativity, and your ability to adapt.
4. It minimizes the value of overcoming adversity.
    

Luck vs. Success

"I'd rather be lucky than good."
Vernon “Lefty” Gomez
NY Yankees Pitcher

The key here is to understand the nature of luck.

Luck happens in a moment. You get a break. You meet the right person. You avoid disaster when you shouldn’t have. 

Lefty ‘I’d-rather-be-lucky-than-good’ Gomez was a Major League pitcher who was a part of five World Series championships with the Yankees. He was an 8-time All-Star. Three times he led the majors in strike-outs, and he was a 20-game winner for seven straight years.

Was he just lucky?

Of course he was! He was lucky to have the talent to pitch. He was lucky to have the opportunity to even play baseball; if he had been born 60 years earlier the game wouldn’t even exist. He was lucky to wind up with the Yankees. But was his success attributable to HIM or was it just – as he liked to joke – good LUCK?

My dad and I play dominoes. When we play, he gets lucky sometimes, and I get lucky sometimes. In any given game, he picks up better dominoes than I do. In any given circumstance, I make a lucky draw. Or it happens the other way around. Whatever. Each of us experiences luck that we (well...mostly I) complain about. But over the course of 100 games, the better player is going to win the most games – and that’s not me. It’s my dad.

That’s what success is. It’s something that happens over time; not in a moment. It’s a destination arrived at after a long journey. And the chances of being successful on accident or by chance over the long-term is astronomically small.

Think about sports. In any given sporting event, we have the tendency to attribute the outcome of an entire season on one “lucky” break – the bounce of a ball, an injury, a bad call. But what about all the games before? What about the journey? What about the obstacles the team had to overcome?

For example, do people think the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX (that’s 49 if you’re not up on your Roman numerals) because they were lucky? Remember? The ill-fated pass at the end that was picked off by the Patriots to seal their 28-24 victory over the Seahawks?

Of course we do!! But that would be about 95% wrong. Here’s why:

• The Patriots had to win enough games to make the play-offs (they went 12-4 and won their conference)
• They had to beat the Ravens and the Colts to advance to the Super Bowl
• They had to score 28 points to even be ahead in the game – against a team that featured the best defense in the NFL and allowed 7 or less points in 5 of their last 6 regular season games
• The Patriot defense also had to limit an explosive Seattle offense to only 24 points in order to have the lead at that point in the game
• Patriots defensive back Malcolm Butler still had to make the play on the interception; it certainly wasn’t automatic
  
  

Clearly, the Patriots got a huge break. Yes, they were lucky – in that moment.

But is that the reason for their success?

The Hidden Reason

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”
Albert King 

The truth is, it’s a lot easier to justify my failure when I can view your success as luck.

Nope, not my fault. If I had your luck, I’d be just as successful as you are.

Really?

Because you would work just as hard? Sacrifice just as much? Be just as disciplined? Or did you not consider those factors into my luck?

The truth is that luck is a great excuse for people who want to “level” the playing field. These are the same people, who, when everything is said and done, believe they are entitled to anything you have just because you have it. Because you were lucky. And to admit that you WORKED for it and EARNED it means they can’t make that claim.

So, we denigrate anyone and everyone who has been successful.

You were just lucky. And since it was just luck, it isn’t fair for you to have something that I don’t.

But, I could cite dozens of examples of people who have started with little or nothing (even less than nothing) in terms of money, resources, connections, or other advantages that have gone on to be successful. We wouldn’t consider them lucky, would we?? So, what’s the differentiating factor?

Then, of course, there are those who would extend the idea of “luck” to include just about any advantage you might have had along the way that you didn’t provide for yourself. That’s right. Just because you drove on roads that someone else built. Or attended a school that was paid for by the people. Or got a bank loan to pay for your inventory. Or happened to have a great mentor.

This thought process assumes that if you benefited from any help along the way whatsoever, you simply cannot take the credit for your success. You couldn’t do it alone, so you were just lucky.

Stop for a moment. Ask yourself what kind of team or company you will have if everyone believes their success is only a matter of luck.

STOP and think.

• What will happen to work ethic?
• What will happen to problem solving?
• What will happen to work performance?

Here’s exactly what will happen: 

“Hey, it’s not my fault. The competition was just lucky.”

“Nothing I could do about it. He got all the breaks.”

“If we had what they have, I would’ve gotten the business.”

Years ago, my son played on a very talented soccer team during high school and they lost very few games. But the crazy thing is that every time they did actually lose, several parents (and, not surprisingly, several players as well) always blamed the referees.

In fact, my son’s team actually NEVER lost! They either won, or they got soaked by the referee. Which sounds stupid as well, right? I mean, they could have just scored another goal or two, but NOOOOO…it was always the referee’s fault.

Every single time.

To be sure, a bad call can cost a team a game. No question. But every time?? It’s just as stupid to assert that possibility as it is to say that any success you have experienced is only due to luck.

The other team got a break we didn’t get. So they were lucky. Never mind they had to work and train and practice. Never mind they scored other goals; beat other teams; advanced to this point. Never mind a dozen other factors.

They were just LUCKY.

On the other hand, perhaps the outcome is the result of a work ethic and a mindset that says, “the harder I work, the luckier I get.” Which sounds a bit like these quotes: 

• "Diligence is the mother of good luck." (16th century)
•  “There’s no such thing as luck. Play the game as hard as you can, and you’ll make your own luck.” (1913) Harvard Advocate 
• "Of course I hope you will have good luck on your side, but also I hope you will not wait for luck. You can make your own luck by hard work and the use of common sense." (1919)
• "I am a great believer in Luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have." (1922, Most likely by Coleman Cox, but often attributed to Thomas Jefferson) 

Actually, when it’s all said and done, it appears that the single most common denominator in determining success is not wealth, or poverty, or social position, or connections, or resource, or anything of the sort. The thing that appears to have the greatest impact on success is something called “grit.”

In the recent book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” (which I highly recommend), author Angela Duckworth says this:

"In sum, no matter the domain, the highly successful
had a kind of ferocious determination that played out
in two ways. First, these exemplars were unusually
resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very,
very deep way what it was they wanted. They not only
had determination, they had direction.

It was this combination of passion and
perseverance that made high achievers
special. In a word, they had grit."

The interesting part of her work is that she has created an assessment that measures grit, and it does incredibly well in predicting success. Which is kind of crazy when you think about it:

If success is only a matter of luck,
how could it be predictable?

Interesting question.

But, perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Duckworth’s research it she makes it clear that “grit” can be learned or developed:

"Let me close with a few final thoughts.
The first is that you can grow your grit.
I see two ways to do so. On your own, you can grow
your grit “from the inside out”: You can cultivate
your interests. You can develop a habit of daily
challenge-exceeding-skill practice.
You can connect your work to a purpose
beyond yourself. And you can learn to
hope when all seems lost."

You can also grow your grit “from the outside in.” Parents, coaches, teachers, bosses, mentors, friends— developing your personal grit depends critically on other people.

Are you catching on? Success is a function of something that can be learned. So, instead of griping about everyone else’s luck, maybe we should get busy helping young people develop this all-important character trait.

Just a thought.

Conclusion

“Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! 
One can name great men of all kinds who were very little gifted.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

Clearly, there is are many factors that contribute to success; even, in some instances, a dose of good luck. However, to ascribe your success only to luck is a travesty.

Why? Because...

• Being born healthy is good luck.
• Being born in one country over another can be good luck.
• Being born in a certain era, or even a certain time of year, can be a dose of luck (Read Seth Godin’s outstanding book, Outliers.]
• Having good parents could be considered lucky.
• Having certain talents is considered lucky.

And on and on it goes.

But what about all the obstacles, and the barriers, and the challenges, and the bad breaks the successful person had to overcome to ultimately create success? Where does that factor in? And at what point does the scale tip away from luck to just plain old hard work and perseverance?

In the final analysis, success is not an accident and it isn’t luck. It is simply taking the hand you’ve been dealt, and creating fortune (or good fortune) out of it.

So, my best advice is this: Quit making excuses.

Just get busy creating your own success.

-----------------------------------------------------

? 2016 Kelly Riggs, Business LockerRoom, Inc.

A sales strategist and leadership coach, Kelly is uniquely qualified to help businesses improve performance. He is a former two-time national Salesperson of the Year, a successful entrepreneur, and a highly acclaimed consultant business coach. He is the author of "1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't" and "Quit Whining and Start SELLING: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales."