Hard Work Vs Luck – Whose Side Are You On?

life hacks, hard work vs luck, life skills, hard work and success, luck and success, self improvementI came across a very interesting question on Indispire today – what is the secret of your success?

Hard Work Vs Luck?

Then we thought, why not collate ideas on this and go on with our usual debate style to identify our own rationalisations, shortcomings and the ideas that actually hold us back than push us further.


Case for Luck

I feel kinda sheepish while I make a case for luck, especially after writing so many articles on perseverance, attitude and making our own paths in life. At the same time I will not be brutally idealistic and say that there is no luck. There perhaps is a fair amount of it too and we firmly believe that it takes a lot of hard work for that luck to happen.

Anyway, going ahead with the case for luck in our debate of hard word vs luck. Here is where the luck comes as an answer

  • It happens only to fortunate people and I am not usually one among them.

Have you noticed how many times this has happened. Somehow when it comes to ourselves we seem to identify the hard luck more than the good one.


  • Luck comes with a lot of resources

Have you observed this? Most times the lucky ones are the ones who are full of riches, wealth resources, good tutors, good inheritances and so on.

I agree that all these resources make life simpler and our challenges easier. But having said that, if the world was a place only like that then the so called miracles would never happen and there would never be an equality at all. Only the ones who have a lot of resources will make it big in life. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. There will be no chance or opportunity for the ones who come from humble backgrounds.

Well, we are not in the 14-15th century anymore where only the king and his patrons would grow, are we?


  • It is a funny thing but things always work out for them

Honestly even I think I have seen this happen and I have cursed my luck for that. And then I wonder – well, things do seem to happen but is it the thing that they want or is it the thing that we want?

Most times when we are short of something in life, we tend to focus on what is missing and we tend to focus only on that and the ones who have it very easily. We seem to forget that life is a full picture and we see only a part of it. And we are never going to see that answer in that one spectrum. It is us who is not being fair, not life at all!


  • It is a good excuse

Honestly it is the best excuse possible isn’t it? It simply exonerates us from the responsibility and helps us blame it on something else which is not in our control at all.

In other words, it is a great escape route, an escape mechanism and it is not something that is going to give us a drive or a purpose to go ahead with our goals or desires in life. It is a stopping point, but rarely a stepping stone. The question is – What do we want? An excuse or the results?


Case for Hard Work

Well this rarely needs a case for it at all. We have talked about this literally on all our posts and the answer has been unanimous. We all firmly believe in hard work and we all know that this is the only thing that is going to give us results.

Anyway, we shall still make a small case for it on our crusade between hard work Vs Luck!

  • It is the only thing that puts us into action.

It is the one thing that constantly drives us and makes us push forward no matter how bad the circumstances seem.


  • It makes way for hope.

It is something which keeps us on a constant struggle. The hope is an amazing aspect of all achievements in our life so far. The hope keeps us going and the hard work is the only thing that gets us closer to what we want.


  • Luck is the last part!

Isn’t it? Luck is not going to go on its own right? All it will do is come to your help in the last 0.05% of your project. But everything before that is your hard work isn’t it?

Luck on its own is a limp and is not going to go anywhere without the support of you or your hard work!


The Verdict!

Well, you know where we are getting at! There was no way we were going to say that luck is the paramount requirement in life, nor were we going to sell you a magical stone or a genie bottle which would make your wishes come true.

We make this case for hard work not because we want to sound idealistic just because we are inspire99.

But we want to make this case only because it is the most practical thing to do. Luck simply leaves you in the middle of nowhere, in a lust of hope that magically things are going to work for you. But the truth is, things never work on their own. Even if I am making an error, I would rather make an error by trying than magically wishing for something to happen on its own! 


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Vinay Nagaraju

Product Director with 10+ years in leadership roles - team building, product strategy, coaching and mentoring are a part of my everyday responsibilities. I write about motivational words that inspire us and shape our thinking and help us go beyond these thoughts to find what our minds are telling us and evolve.

This Post Has 11 Comments

  1. Andapo

    Well… not really… luck is something maybe some people do have, like I do but don’t make use of it… but hardwork is always your efforts for which you get fruits so it will at the end of the day it’s sweeter for sure!! … so work hard, if your lucky embrace it, jump it, grasp it, make use of it…if it’s not there will create your own luck, it is ok too…

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      To be honest Maria, I think all of us have our own share of luck. We all get so caught up in life that we sometimes miss out on the things that have worked for us and we seem to call it bad luck. It might be under appreciation or maybe anything else, but it is pretty interesting how we would like to see it and what we want to make out of it. Or maybe on the other hand just stop believing in the word luck and go for it and keep going for it.

  2. Tara Nair

    I guess if smart work is mixture of both, then I will go that way :) I have tasted the result of hard-work… not that great and luck is just a word that one can get comfort from; whereas smart work is something that is innovative, challenging and the results just awesome.
    Enjoyed reading the post Vinay :) very well written.

  3. Somali K Chakrabarti

    I think what a person needs is the optimum combination of luck and labour. Percentage could vary. I completely agree that luck may not shine on its own till it is rubbed with efforts.

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      True Somali :). I think the one thing in control is our hard work and the luck part is never ours to keep. It keeps changing and there is never a consistency on that front. Probably makes more sense to bank on the hard work aspect over the luck aspect.. The debate of Hard work Vs Luck will keep going on and I guess maybe we need to bank on what is more in our control..

  4. Arun

    80:20

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Well I would go a little ahead in favour of hard work Arun, maybe as up to as about 95: 5..

  5. Vinitha

    I think its a mixture of both :) 50 :50 and i would replace the word LUCK here with Gods grace :) ..we need to work hard and strive towards our goals to make them come true..Honestly, There are no short cuts to success…hard work cannot be substituted ! Do ur best and things will fall in place :) Great post Vinay ! :)

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thanks Vinitha :). I do agree that it takes a lot of things to achieve the success and goal seeking we are after and it is a little more than appears :). Maybe it is a personal thing, but somehow I feel that the luck aspect is a final thing, it comes into place only after all the bare aspects are covered :).

  6. Maitreni Mishra

    Luck is something that comes naturally to very few people but we bang on them for all the good, at the end it is sheer hard work that pays off! Thanks for sharing Vinay :)

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Maitreni :). Luck is the last resort! Anything before that is simply the effort which keeps us all going in the journey. I somehow feel like giving only about 5% to luck and that too honestly seems a bit too much!: )

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