“Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.“ – Earl Wilson
What exactly is the role of luck when it comes to success?
It’s a rather wide spectrum. It ranges from a great deal of luck to no luck at all, or, in fact, some very bad luck.
What’s important is that your belief about luck can really shape your chances for success.
If you take a passive view on luck, success may happen to fall your way. if you take a positive view on luck, you can increase your ability to deal with negative situations, as well as take advantage of opportunities as they occur.
As my friend’s Dad puts it, “Luck is when skill and opportunity come together.”
In Tactics: The Art and Science of Success, Edward de Bono writes about various perspectives on luck based on studying the patterns and practices of 50 successful people.
Key Takeaways
Here are my key takeaways:
- Luck is a spectrum. Luck can range from a great deal of luck to no luck at all.
- Very good luck. Some people just happen to make the right moves at the right time or happen to know the right people or end up in the right set of circumstances.
- Very bad luck. Some people make all the right moves, but it’s not the right time. Or they do the right things, but the conditions weren’t set for success. Some people really do fall into a string of bad luck.
- Luck may give you the first opportunity. Luck might give you the first opportunity, but you have to be ready to act on it.
- Meeting the right people can make a big difference. Many successful people had great mentors, or influencers, or financial supporters. This is especially true for many successful entrepreneurs.
- The passive attitude on luck. In this case, you assume that success is outside of your control, and there’s no point in trying to hard.
- The positive attitude on luck. In this case, you believe that you can influence your success through the the right actions and the right mindsets.
Personally, I’m a fan of the positive attitude on luck. I’ve seen self-awareness and skills make an enormous difference in the probability of success. It’s less about what happens to you, and more about what you make of each opportunity. A sense of humor can help you get back up when you get knocked down.
Drive and focus can help you work through tough situations.
Building a great network gives you more support to help you thrive in more situations.
Modeling the success of others can help you avoid wrong paths and painful mistakes. Skills like anticipation and being able to read a situation can help you avoid bad scenarios or leverage them more effectively. Most importantly, problem solving can help you grow while dealing with the tough stuff in your life.
A Lucky Fall of the Cards
Luck can simply be the fall of the cards.
de Bono writes:
“The main point is that if you look only at the two out of a hundred that succeeded, you might attribute success to their personality, style, or course of action.
It may actually be not more than a lucky fall of the cards.”
Very Good Luck
Some people luck into success.
de Bono writes:
“I have no doubt that some people have been very successful through sheer good luck.
There will be times when readers of this book will spot instances of such luck.
This often happens when one person meets another who provides him with an opportunity. If you play tennis with a girl and then marry her and then join her father in a booming television business, then that probably counts as some sort of luck.
In other cases, luck is meeting just the right partner at an early stage. It is remarkable how many successful people have come across as backup partner who provides the solidity and financial soundness to complement their entrepreneurial flair.”
Very Bad Luck
Some people can run into some very bad luck.
de Bono writes:
“It can of course, happen the other way around. Sometimes a very gifted person has a run of very bad luck.
For example, they designs a fuel-saving car just when the price of oil drops.
Or, an important write-up on them (which might have changed their career) is not published because the newspaper happens to be on strike that week.”
Luck May Give the First Opportunity
Luck might cut you the first break:
de Bono writes:
“Others argue that luck may give the first opportunity, but then such characteristics as perception, determination, dealing with people, etc. turn that first opportunity into success.
They also argue that if that opportunity had not come along, then another one would have.
A successful person would be successful whatever the initial opportunity.
The noted psychologist Professor Hans Eysenck says that he only went into psychology because he could not afford the year’s waiting that would be required for entry into another science area.”
A Spectrum of Luck
He does not take a strong stance on luck because he’s seen he’s seen luck play such a varied role in success:
de Bono writes:
“For myself, I do not feel that it is necessary to take a fierce position on this matter of luck. Some people have been extremely lucky, some people have been extremely unlucky.
Some people have a certain amount of luck and have built on it. Some people have virtually no luck and have still been successful.
There is a spectrum ranging from a great deal of luck to no luck at all.”
The Passive Attitude Toward Luck
Some people take a passive view on luck:
de Bono writes:
“For some people, it is a comfortable thought that success may be due to luck. It means that they do not have to do anything different but just to carry on and hope that luck – like winning a lottery ticket – might make them successful.
They may also feel there is no point in striving because without luck nothing will happen.
It is always comfortable to feel that you are just as talented and just as worthwhile as the successful person but not quite as lucky.”
The Positive Attitude Toward Luck
de Bono writes that a positive attitude helps you make the most of luck:
“The positive attitude toward luck is very different. The positive attitude is that you put yourself in a position to take the maximum advantage of any luck that comes your way. The positive attitude means that you are able to carry to success whatever turns up by luck. The positive attitude means that you are very ready to spot opportunities, and it also means that you may generate such opportunities deliberately. This attitude acknowledges luck as a possible ingredient in some cases of success and then places the operational emphasis on the other ingredients, such as determination, strategy, and style.”
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