Comments on: Is Success Just Fate or Pre-destination?

By: Dave J.

Dave J. — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 03:19:53 +0000

Or, is it ‘luck’? Dug up this interesting article at FC: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/72/realitycheck.html

“One way is to be open to new experiences. Unlucky people are stuck in routines. When they see something new, they want no part of it. Lucky people always want something new. They’re prepared to take risks and relaxed enough to see the opportunities in the first place.”

By: Larry Hendrick

Larry Hendrick — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:50:07 +0000

Wait just a minute, Troy…you just named hard work and fate as the answer. See, I knew this was going to be hard.

By: Troy

Troy — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:51:01 +0000

Larry! This is an excellent topic. Here is my $.02 [a la Jennifer Warwick @ the New Charm School]. Success is neither fate nor pre-determined. I agree with Sarah, success is a product of blood, sweat, and tears. And talent. And nurturing. And yes, even chance. Tangent: success is like a diamond… Yikes! Multi-faceted. Infinite possibilities. Hard. It’s value is largely in the eye of the beholder. It can be sentimental. It can be obtained by any number of means… some of which may be more “deserving” than others… BLA, Bla, bla… I agree with working to your strengths, a la Buckingham. But ultimately, I believe the primary determinant of success is the will to do what must be done. The will to sacrifice. There is always a price to pay. The will to persist. Failures will come. And the will to resist. You may be an amazing talent, but amazing talent won’t keep you out of the bars at night. Or keep you from selling out. Or worse, selling your soul…

By: Larry Hendrick

Larry Hendrick — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 17:28:17 +0000

Thanks for the comment Sarah. Your thoughts align with Marcus Buckingham’s book, The One Thing You Need To Know. He writes about only working from your strengths and to stop trying to improve weaknesses.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 17:14:03 +0000

Success for me happens because I work hard for what I believe in. And in some cases you may class that as fate, or predetermined destiny, however I see it more as determination to succeed at something that I feel is achievable.

There is a definate correlation with me between success and effort. However there is an even closer relationship between success and working to one’s strengths. No matter how hard I work on something that i have absolutely no talent for I am likely to fail even with extreme amounts of effort. (However I know this therefore I don’t try to succeed at things that I don’t think i will manage to achieve.)

I hope that helps give you some insight.