“Nothing in life just happens. You have to have the stamina to meet the obstacles and overcome them.” –Golda Meir
Some people, who have not achieved a great deal of success for themselves in life, attribute the success of others to luck. They bemoan the fact that they have not had the lucky breaks in life that they believe would have made them successful. But luck plays only a small part in the success of most people.
People who want to rise to stardom must have two essential qualities in order to have any chance of making it to the top. First of all, they must have exceptional talent. Without extraordinary talent, they have little chance of becoming superstars no matter how much luck they have or how hard they work. The second ingredient for stardom is a desire to succeed that is so strong it drives them to devote most of their time and energy to their pursuit of success. People who have these two qualities have a slim chance at making it big, but only a very small percentage of them will ever achieve stardom. Some of those who do make it will have had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time, but others will succeed solely on the basis of their hard work, talent and perseverance.
Most of us will never be superstars, and many of us may not even aspire to become rich and famous. But even to become reasonably successful we have to follow the same pathway that superstars travel. We must have a fair amount of innate talent and be willing to work hard. A little good luck is always welcome, but we can’t count on it, and we have no control over it.
Few good things in life just happen. If we want good things to happen to us, we must work hard to make them happen. A good education is the starting point for most of us.
In summary, although luck may play some role in the success of some people, it usually does not play a major role. This is good news, because we don’t have any control over luck. We do, however, have at least partial control over the other factors that determine success.
Think about it.
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Visit Allen’s website at www.allenwsmith.com or e-mail him at ironwoodas@aol.com.
Copyright 2015
Allen W. Smith
