Luck and Success

Thanks to the person who commented on the last entry; I appreciate it.

So far the job has been ok, I've finished my second day and at the moment I'm in a relatively good mood. My mind has also been dwelling a lot on money, success and so on, so I thought I'd have a go at writing that entry I promised on 'luck and success'. Here goes then.

Think of someone who has been financially successful. By sucessful, I mean hugely and unquestionably successful, for instance a self-made billionaire. Now, I think that when society views such a person, there are two main schools of thought. One is a kind of admiration of their accomplishments, and the other is a feeling that somehow that person got lucky. So which school is correct? I'd argue that both have a point.

I haven't drafted this entry so it's probably going to read a bit disjointed, though hopefully you'll be able to get the gist. I'd say that to become truly successful and achieve serious wealth, you simply must put a lot of hard work into whatever it is that you do. There is no getting around this, and it is not a comment to be taken lightly. 'Hard work' means A LOT of work, maybe for years, even decades. However, at some point, the hard work will present the person with an opportunity to take some kind of chance. Therefore they have put themselves in the position to get lucky, which is the key point of this entry. If they don't get lucky, so be it, and they will continue to reap the rewards of their hard work. If they do get lucky, then huge rewards can result.

The conclusion, I guess, is that nobody gets super wealthy without taking a risk. Sure, you can get a lot of money by playing safe and running a solid business. But I think that in most cases, billionaire businessmen have taken some kind of huge chance(s) in their career and have come out on top. The biggest winners in life are those who go out there and do it.

A quote from Theodore Roosevelt might be slightly appropriate here.... 'It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best, knows in the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, at least falls while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.'

Where is this going, I hear you ask. I don't know. It's definitely not some thinly-veiled advocation of gambling. Rather, the concept has been on my mind lately, and I just thought it would be interesting to discuss. As always, feedback is welcome.

Thanks for reading.

PS. I can't be bothered to proof-read this so sorry for any typos / bad spelling)