Posted by It is a common tendency for humans to attribute some phenomena and occurrences we do not really understand to extra terrestrial powers and forces beyond our control. Accordingly, over the years there has been an increasing propensity of humans to identify success and achievement in life to the conspiracy of luck. Don’t twist your face, further down you will understand why and how it is a conspiracy theory.
What is Luck?
Going by the official definition, luck is something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence, especially a favourable one. It is also defined by Oxford dictionary as A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
In the sense of this article, we can therefore say that luck is that belief that things happen in life by chance and through unexplainable turn of events. Thus, luck is seen as that force which drives happenings in favor or against some things and persons without intentional actions or inactions.
Does Luck Really Exist?
As earlier stated, from inception, we humans have always strived to find some explanations, however baseless, to the things that take place around us and in the universe.
Taking away the consciously organized events whereby chance devices are used, as in lotto, raffle draws,random predictions etc, there is no evidences both from science or religion that luck exist.
To say that some people have good luck while others have bad luck is a big fallacy. How many successful people in any area of life have you heard or seen making it without directed effort?
From all the stories, biographies and autobiographies, of exceptional personalities, where have you seen credit being given to luck as a success factor?
Can you point to a successful sport icon who doesn’t engage in rigorous training? Where is that student who just clears all his or her papers without reading and attending classes? Mention that leader who doesn’t go through hell to emerge?
Even in the massively corrupt and immoral systems, you still need effort ( lots of it), to attain greatness. If you are unable to give adequate answers to the queries above, then you should be wondering how this fairytale of luck came about.
Why do People Subscribe to the Theory of Luck?
It will not be very far fetched to say that humans don’t love to face the truth and stay reality squarely in the face. We are always seeking ways to hide and evade the real nature of things especially when the tide is not very stable.
After some carefull look into the ways we behave, react and respond to happenings, I believe there are reasons people attribute success to luck. One outstanding factor promoting the theory of luck is that people don’t love acknowledging hard work.
Maybe it’s laziness or just a shear lack of ambition, we love to get it easy, no stress. So with time we erroneously, begin to think fortune will just land on our doorsteps instead of actively engaging ourselves.
Some persons have also been frustrated into dream land of luck. At least here, they can have some hope of something miraculous turning their fortunes for the better.
However in most cases this does not happen. After attempting a particular thing over time and not finding a way through, we suddenly begin to think that maybe we are unlucky and our star is dark. As a means of deriding another or downplaying someone else’s success, we hastily say ,” it’s their luck”. So as not to acknowledged the capabilities and efforts of others, we subtly explain it away as luck. Some religious tenets about some mystical spirits being more benevolent to some people than others is also a strong facilitator of this concept of luck.
We can’t really separate humans from spirituality and religion. We always find thing or the other to worship and believe and some of these beliefs have very misleading theories. Many other things contribute to the existence and popularization of the concept of luck. Most of these are basically fragments of human imaginations and theorizations. I want to center on the few highlighted above as they form the core of this misconception.
How Does Perseverance Lead to Success and Debunks the Concept of Luck?
Genius and talent alone does not suffice. We have read and heard about many highly talented individuals who could not achieve any reasonable feat in their areas of exploits. If it were to be luck, then these persons were quite lucky to be endowed with such great talents. However that was not the case.
This phrase is rather too popular, “practice makes perfect”, but however frequently used, it still holds true. Perseverance gives you experience, enables you to developed skills, builds your resolve and gives you positive perspective. In whatever field, amount of effort will definitely show.
You remember the popular story of the inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison I mean, you know the story. Is it Michael Jordan you want to refer, do you how many times he keep trying after several failures? If these guys and others did not persevere in their pursuit, maybe today we would have said they were unlucky.
No matter how minute the innate abilities, with perseverance and hard work, great heights can be attained by anyone who so wishes. If you check out the daily routines of all exceptional people, you will discover a crucial part of their life. These people practice more, put in greater efforts, spend longer hours and push way harder than everyone else.
There is nothing that cannot be achieved with perseverance and intentionality. Keeping faith in luck is simply going after shadows. All results are gotten through effort. For whatever gain or achievement, effort must have been expended. Even in cases of inherited wealth or statue, someone, somewhere, sometime, must have sacrificed the necessary efforts. No gain without pain it is popularly said.