Hard Work Or Luck

Define success.

Well everyone had their own opinion in that.

What i think is that success is SATISFACTION IN LIFE

My answer would require defining success as being happy.

That requires a little critical thinking, and a lot of ignoring advertisements.

Ignoring ads means I need far less money, so I have the choice how hard to work.

However, I like being busy and being the best in my field, so I choose to work hard. My somewhat unusual  but highly successful approach to work means I get asked to work for people instead of applying for jobs. I haven't applied for a job in 20 years, but get lots of offers - 5 in the last two weeks - No luck involved.

Hello everyone,

please note that this thread is now on the Expat cafe - open discussions forum as it is a more open and general topic.

Regards

Bhavna

    Define success.
    -@Fred

Fred has nailed it: The secret to "success" is how you define it - meaning how high (or low) you set your goals and when you decide to be happy with what you achieved.

If you aim to become a billionaire, you will probably never be successful. But if you just want to have a steady income, a bit more than sufficient for your daily needs, you have good chances.

Luck only presents you chances every now and then. It is up to you (and mostly your hard work) to recognise them, jump on them and make them happen. It is naive to think luck is winning a lottery and becoming rich without own contribution - in most cases it's 10% fate and 90% sweat.

@muhammadessa0601

Surely the definition of "success" is immaterial! Whatever it is that you decide are the worthy goals for your life (business success, a good job, happy family, x million in the bank account, concert pianist, world-class athlete, Nobel laureate) you're more likely to achieve them by working diligently (and insightfully) towards them, rather than relying on chance to bring them your way.

This is not to say that chance never makes good things happen for us, but that it equally often it brings bad news ("shit happens)". Relying on chance seems rather risky, as "hope is not a strategy".

Insofar as there is any confusion on this, it might perhaps be attributable to human nature, and our tendency to play down the impact of both good luck and hard work, and attribute our success purely to our own cleverness and natural talent.

Tweaking Edison's famous quote: I suspect success is "99% perspiration and 1% inspiration".

        Define success.    -@Fred

Fred has nailed it: The secret to "success" is how you define it - meaning how high (or low) you set your goals and when you decide to be happy with what you achieved.
If you aim to become a billionaire, you will probably never be successful. But if you just want to have a steady income, a bit more than sufficient for your daily needs, you have good chances.
Luck only presents you chances every now and then. It is up to you (and mostly your hard work) to recognise them, jump on them and make them happen. It is naive to think luck is winning a lottery and becoming rich without own contribution - in most cases it's 10% fate and 90% sweat.
   

    -@beppi

While there are surely people who ’made it’ through hard (and smart) work, the reality is that 90 % of the rich are born rich.

the reality is that 90 % of the rich are born rich.
    -@Kurterino

where is the success in that?

    the reality is that 90 % of the rich are born rich.    -@Kurterino

where is the success in that?
   

    -@beppi

Most of these people are genuinely convinced that they are rich because of their outstanding abilities and intellect, and are sure that they would have made it even if they hadn’t inherited a few millions in cash and plenty of real estate.

@Kurterino Where is the success in that (other than their personal satisfaction or, in case they wanted that, your envy)?

@safnah I am sorry for you, since you appparently did not achieve anything in life with hard work.

But, believe me, for 99% of humankind it is the other way around: Work gives more success than luck!

Americans in general are relatively speaking poor

The OECD defines "poor" as having below 50% of the per-capita median income. The worldwide per-capita median income is currently at 3000US$/year, so those below US§125/month (or about US$4 per day) are poor. Over 50% of the world population belong to this group. Do you?

(By the way: These figures are adjusted for price differences between countries - Purchasing Power Parity or PPP - so one cannot even claim people in poor countries have it easier to live on such a low income because costs are lower - not true!)

On the other hand, "rich" is defined as having more than 200% of the median per-capita income - so anyone having above US$500/month belongs to the rich upper class by global standards. That includes almost all residents of USA and also other highly developed countries.

The ones inbetween (living on US$125-500/month) are the global Middle Class.

Happiness does not depend on riches, but it is good to every now and the realize that we (by luck of where we were born, not hard work) belong to the wealthy few!

@beppi I completely agree with you. Most people in the world would be delighted to have the opportunities offered by life in the United States, which is why an enormous number of people try to move there each year. Varanus38’s comments are nonsense.

Stop complaining about the result you didn't get from the work you didn't put in the only way to became more successful than the people  is to be willing to do something most people aren't willing to do.

@safnah I understand what you mean, and I agree that one's place of birth (assigned by luck) has a big influence on many aspects of one's life.

But "success" requires an improvement.

Being born rich and staying rich is no success (and nothing to be proud of), but working your way from a slum to a less poor neighbourhood is!

    @safnah I understand what you mean, and I agree that one's place of birth (assigned by luck) has a big influence on many aspects of one's life.But "success" requires an improvement.    -@beppi

No question about the influence of one's place and condition of birth, and undoubtedly there are some situations that no amount of hard work can improve much.  There isn't a lot than one individual can do about being caught in a natural disaster, in a war, or in an authoritarian state.  Under the right circumstances, though, attitude, values, and hard work can be pathways to success even in moderately negative situations.

From the late '90s through 2013, approximately 25 million Brazilians rose from poverty to the middle class, one of the largest improvements ever seen in a democratic country.  The government, after conquering inflation in 1988 and especially through the social programs of the first two terms of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, certainly provided a helping hand, by strengthening the national health service, by providing family subsidies for nutrition and education, and by expanding public housing on a rent-to-own basis.  The worldwide commodity boom at that time kept government coffers full, which certainly was lucky.  But Brazilians seized the opportunities with both hands.

My husband's family is part of what in Brazil is called "The New Middle Class".  He spent his early childhood in a shack on stilts over a stagnant creek.  Like many small children then -- but far fewer since -- he suffered from both hepatitis and malaria at different times.  He was cured by the public Unified Health Service.  He was lucky to have a grandmother who had  the iron work ethic that many poor Brazilians share, as well as an attitude that valued education even more highly than work.  She enforced both on her children and grandchildren, with beatings as she felt necessary.  She took advantage of the public housing expansion to get the whole family out of that creek bottom and into their own simple, neat, comfortable apartments; most of them now own their own homes.    Anyone who wasn't in school was expected to be working;  anyone who was at school was expected to do well, and could count on whatever meager resources the family could provide. 

Nowadays, they all have steady jobs or their own businesses, and middle class lifestyles by Brazilian standards.  My husband is a lawyer, and several of his cousins also have university training.  Hard work or luck?  Certainly both, and it's hard to say which was more important, but it's not hard to say that none of them would have gotten anywhere without a lot of conscious effort.

In my opinion, success requires a combination of hard work and luck.  Because there are those who have worked hard but are so unlucky that they haven't achieved success. But there was also hard work + luck that made him successful.  Even though your parents' background is rich, just having a lot of money without working will not be successful in maintaining your wealth.  Any amount of money can run out in an instant if you can't handling it. However, in reality, I think success can't actually be measured.  Depending on each individual, there are times when people who live simply feel that their life is more than enough. 1 thing I'm disagree, my personal experience denies that being born rich will guarantee your life.  Again, I can say that if you are unlucky, even though you were born rich, life can turn your situation upside down.  I believe according to my religious beliefs that it is all God's destiny.

   Stop complaining about the result you didn't get from the work you didn't put in the only way to became more successful than the people  is to be willing to do something most people aren't willing to do.-@muhammadessa0601

"...be willing to do something most people aren't willing to do." (Link)

Your making that statement is itself, quite chilling.

@Aidan in HCMC well its the point what i am talking about the work. Mostly people didn't go in their profession beyond the line. If they work hard  with SINCERITY its natural phenomenon GOD ALMIGHTY always help them with giving them chance which is called LUCK.