A few thoughts on luck
One thing I have realized when I reflect on my own past actions is the enormous impact that luck commonly has on results. I think that luck plays a significant role in life and we often underestimate it to the point of considering it non-existent. Many people don't believe in luck. I disagree, luck exists, because how else can you explain the whole set of factors beyond a person's control that can favor him to the point of giving him an advantage, or disfavor him to the point of being an obstacle? I mean, we don't control everything, there are things that are out of our control, and those things often have a positive or negative effect on us, that is, it does not matter if you do everything right, if you don't make a single mistake, that does not mean you are going to success. There is always this factor of "chance" (to say it in some way), of things that are out of your control, and that many times ends up being determinant in the final result. We see this in sports all the time, being the best doesn't always mean winning, sometimes small teams win, sometimes a player can do all the right things and be clearly superior, and however, he can lose because of a wrong refereeing decision or the like. It's a little more complex than it seems. Sometimes someone is lucky, and sometimes someone is not.
And I think people are afraid of this, let's call it, fact, that whatever you do there are things that are beyond your control, that there are things that we can't manipulate at our whim, and that sometimes, just sometimes, no matter if we do everything in our power to make something happen, it just won't happen. That is true in my opinion. Just as the opposite is also true, namely that sometimes things just happen in the right order and everything falls into place with virtually no action on our part. Sometimes we don't have to work hard to get what we want, sometimes we can also have great results that don't come from our actions, right or wrong, but from things we can't control. I think many times the modern human is afraid to accept that being in control of the boat does not mean being able to change the wind and the tide.
Now, I'm not saying that luck is the main determining factor, that's not true, at least that's not what I think. Most of the time hard work and perseverance are the most important things to succeed. Think about the most successful people you can imagine (whoever you put in that place), they are not there by luck, probably if you study their personal history you will know that there is a lot of perseverance, discipline, and they have made a lot of right decisions to get there, it is not just luck. They have probably been lucky at times in their lives, and unlucky at other times as well, but that is not what determines their success, it is determined because, despite having ups and downs, they have managed to stay there. Because they have been persevering. Perseverance, consistency, persistence, are the key, because no matter how bad luck a person has, if that person makes the right decisions for long enough, well, eventually he will start to see good results. And likewise, no matter how good luck someone has, if that person makes the wrong decisions for too long, sooner or later he or she will fail. It's as simple as that. Luck, or lack of it, will make or break you a couple of times, but consistency will eventually get you through it all.
Everything that happens to us in life is a combination of the consequences of our own actions and luck, it is important to recognize both in order to understand that our mindset should not be so much result-oriented, but rather should be oriented towards doing the right actions regardless of the consequences. That is the most important lesson for me in this regard. What about you? Are you a persevering person, or are you just lucky? Or do you have both?
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