
How much of success is luck? - bpung
http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-much-of-success-is-luck.html
======
dflock
Several observations on this:

1) You make your own luck - for the most part - and that what we call 'being
lucky' is a skill you can learn. See here for the research on this:
<http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/wiseman/research/luckmain.html>

2) The Andy Grove/ Einstein thing, of trying, striving, working really hard
and trying to strategically place yourself in the 'right place' will
eventually pay off, one way or another. This is essentially what the article
adresses. This is a different kind of luck though.

3) Apart from personal 'luckiness' and hard work paying off, there are also
occasional black and white swans - large random external events which affect
peoples lives in good or bad ways. These are unpredictable and outside your
control. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has a (quite hideous) website about this kind
of thing: <http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/> He may also have written a
popular book.

------
jacquesm
90%, and 10% very hard work, usually starting somewhere in your teens until
you reach it.

If the above rule does not apply then it's 100% luck.

------
brazzy
IMO the bigger the success, the bigger the influence of luck. If you have a
good idea, are talented and work hard, then you're very unlikely to fail
completely. But no amount of good ideas, talent or hard work can ensure that
you'll be the next Google.

------
thejo
Andy Grove has a wonderful notion of something he calls "earned luck". One
needs luck to succeed, but you can't sit around waiting for it. I came across
it in his biography by Richard Tedlow... a highly recommended read.

