Without luck, very few people are successful. Hard work alone will not cut it.

The above idea does not sit well with many people. They don’t like the idea that hard work does not guarantee success. They’ve grown up all their life hearing, ‘work hard and you will succeed’.

That’s an inaccurate narrative, at least when you’re talking large scale success.

Warren Buffett often talks about how luck played a crucial role in his life.

If hard work alone was the prerequisite for success, construction laborers would be the wealthiest people on earth.

That’s clearly not the case.

Some people also take this the wrong way and stop working hard.

Don’t be stupid. Hard work invites luck.

Work hard. Do your best in all things, and luck will present itself. Sometimes it may take years or decades before luck presents itself. Be patient. Persist. Trick is not to be discouraged and to continue working harder. For, that is what you control. You cannot control luck. You do control how you work.

And when luck arrives, you will begin seeing signs of success.

A word of caution … after luck is identified, hard work is still required. Without hard work, luck will go away.

With luck by its side, hard work will result into massive success.

On hard work

Decide … to do everything well.

No matter how large or small the task at hand, do it well.

People who do shoddy work or work that simply gets them by, do not get noticed.

People who work hard get noticed. Getting noticed … is code for luck.

And when you get noticed by the right people, you get even luckier, and success follows.

On luck

Want to get lucky?

Do three things.

  1. Work hard.
  2. Put yourself in a position where your hard work is noticed by the right people.
  3. Continue working harder, for if you stop, luck will disappear and put you back at square one.

Networking is something you will need to be adept at. If making small talk, and networking with others is not your strong suit, you will need to strengthen it. Without it, luck will often be evasive. With networking, luck will find your hard work quickly.

Networking is like swimming. You can read about it and watch videos about it. But the only way you will become better at it is by doing it.