Luck Vs. Hard work

Day 289 / 366

Do you think that success is only dependent on talent or hard work? Or are you one of those who believe it’s all down to luck?

When I was young I used to believe that it was all about working hard. If I could just work twice as hard as someone, I could beat them. I wasn’t born talented. I almost failed in class 1. But I slowly and steadily learned and adapted.

It was only after I grew up that I found out what a bitch fate can be. For instance, when I took the JEE exam, one of my friends got just 4 marks less than me, but his rank was 2000 more than me. Maybe he just got unlucky and got a question he was not prepared for, or maybe I got lucky and got a guess right. But that small thing made our careers vastly different.

When you face failures like this due to sheer luck, you start to believe that all that matters is fate. And that nothing is in your hand. And you stop putting in the effort to change your own life. But the reality is something different.

Of course, luck matters a lot. But luck without preparation is nothing. I have had so many great opportunities slip from my fingers because I was not prepared for them. When things did not work out for me, I just sat and did nothing. So when the universe finally decided to send some luck my way, I could not do anything with it.

The moral of the story here is that when the goings are tough, instead of doing nothing but cursing your bad luck, you should see how you can work on yourself. Find out where you are lacking and fix it. The universe works on the law of averages, and sooner or later you will get lucky. Make sure that you don’t waste your chance.