Thinking About Success

1. Hard Work

2. Skill

3. Opportunity
4. Luck

In my opinion, people who say that luck does not exist aren't completely right, but they're close. I don't believe that luck has a very strong influence in the world, thus it's place at the bottom of my ranking. Luck is more of a perception than a reality. By that I mean that luck is life's subtle way of combining the first three words on the list, which manifests itself to those with low self confidence, who don't believe they have those attributes. This is why I say that the others are more important than luck. 

Without the right opportunities, very little can be done. The way I see it, opportunities are not provided by any sort of system, but by other people who've received the same opportunity that they wish to give. I feel that opportunity is more often confused with luck than these others are, and for good reason. When someone comes along and gives you the 'big break' that you've been searching for, it's not luck. It's more than likely because you have the skill or have put in the hard work to earn it.

While skill is extremely important, I feel that the concept is too often misinterpreted. Skills are not always dealt at birth, but can be learned throughout your entire life. And how do you learn a skill? With hard work. I rest my case.

Lastly, I think that hard work is the most important factor to success. Anyone can put in work, but what really matters is if those people are willing to. That's what hard work is: a test of will, which I would argue is one of the most important things to have when searching for success. Success has never come to anybody without somebody's hard work, nor will it ever. Hard work is recognizable by anybody who has the ability to give opportunities or teach skills, and it pays off enormously to be willing to do it.