# Do u believe in luck or hard work?



## adamm (May 21, 2013)

hi everyone,

I strongly believe in hard work.There is no substitute for hard work , hard work is essential to be inculcated in each and every individual. Without hard work, we don't find almost anyone in this world achieving great feats.Therefore, I strongly assert that hardwork is key to success in anyone's career.

do u think is luck anywhere exist ............?


----------



## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Hello from Minnesota

In answer to your question - I think it is two sides to the same coin. You work your butt off to put yourself into the position to get a lucky break. Then you work your butt off to make it pay off. So yeah, luck exists. But everybody gets it at some point. The question is, have you done your homework to make it pay off?


----------



## punch (Nov 6, 2012)

Luck is where Preparation meets oppurtunity. I'm sure you will certainly find hard work in there somewhere. Once you go at it smarter it becomes almost second nature.

Hey newb, two posts and both polls. you may want to do an introduction post and say howdy do. Welcome to the forum!


punch (not smart so I still work hard, but hey! even a busted clock is right two times a day...)


----------



## Mudder.Mitch (Jan 24, 2013)

I find the harder I work the more luck I have


----------



## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

I know a middle-aged christian guy whose life is a total undisciplined disorganised mess because he won't lift a finger to help himself because he trusts in God and luck instead.
As a result he's got 2 failed marriages behind him; he's been hauled up court twice for not paying his council tax, and he's had his electricity, phone and gas cut off at various times for nonpayment of the bills.
I've tried to help him get a grip on his life by quoting this verse at him- _"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of *selfdiscipline*" (2 Tim 1:7)_ but he won't listen, he continues going through life like a robot wearing a stupid smile with a brain like mush and I now avoid him like the plague because I can't stand him!

At the other extreme an obsession with hard work is a no-no too, my late dad was a chronic workaholic and it sent him half-nutty, so the key is to strike a healthy balance between work and relaxation.
After I left school he used to hammer on my bedroom door at the crack of dawn shouting "Come on get out of bed and look for a job, they're crying out for people at the glue factory!", but I just thought "Oh stick it!" and turned over and went back to sleep..


----------



## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

Years ago I found this verse in the Bible which for me answers our question:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Eccl 9:11 (KJV)

The swiftest man can fall and lose his race, . . . an unguided arrow can be the instrument bringing down the biggest soldier, . . . wisdom alone will not bake bread, . . . etc., there are times where timing and positioning oneself in position for success or failure will be the deciding factor for that success or failure.

I have read where the man, Einstein, never mastered the concept of tying his shoes without thinking or looking. He is also reputed to have been at best a mediocre student by all his early teachers, . . . and we all know how well he did later in life.

There is indeed a factor of luck, . . . but where luck fails, . . . many times preparation, prayer, and positioning will be the deciding factors.

May God bless,
Dwight


----------



## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

My mother once told me, *"God helps those, who help themselves, especially if they work like hell while waiting for his help".* It has served me well over the years.


----------



## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

dwight55 said:


> Years ago I found this verse in the Bible which for me answers our question:
> ..."I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Eccl 9:11 (KJV)..


Yeah but then Ecclesiastes the preacher who wrote that was always a gloomy guy.
If we take him literally he's saying that if Fate fires a bullet at us there's zilch we can do about it, but there are plenty of other Bible verses that tell us we CAN do something to dodge it.

For example this quote of Jesus about the end of the world tells us not to timidly accept it, but to prep for it- 
_"Wars, rumours of wars, false christs, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, darkened sun and moon, falling stars, shaken planets.
Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning until now, and never to be equaled again.
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive.
*Be on guard! Be alert*! You do not know when that time will come.
What I say to you, I say to everyone: '*Watch*!"- Jesus of Nazareth, Mark ch 13_

Of course, survival is never guaranteed in any situation, but by prepping for it we're at least getting the odds on our side and are more likely to be the only guys and gals left standing, so to a great extent we make our own luck, right Kid?

*"Right"* 









_"Luck has a peculiar habit of favoring those who don't depend on it" - Anon
"Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men"- E.B.White
"The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators" - Edward Gibbon
"Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it.Luck to me is something else,realizing what is opportunity and what isn't" - Lucille Ball
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca
"Luck is believing you're lucky" - Tennessee Williams
"A person does not seek luck, luck seeks the person" - Turkish proverb
"I deserved my good luck" - Margaret Thatcher_


----------



## That Prepper Guy (May 7, 2013)

It's not just hard work. It's also preparing yourself strategically to leverage your rewards (doing less to achieve more).
Anyone can work hard. And they do, and most times, they are stagnant.


----------



## getting ready (May 19, 2013)

I myself believe in hard work, but I believe at times luck does play into the big picture. Hard work will get you ready for just about every scenario, and luck plays a lesser role...just my humble opinion.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

In todays world if you work hard a few things are certain . 
Someone will take what you worked for and give it to the non workers
You will be accused of getting there on the backs of others
You will viewed as a sap by the hand out crowd.
Luck or maybe Gods hand I prefer Gods hand. I could have screwed my life up big time but Still here and it worked out pretty well.
It would be easy to get the soap box out and give a sermon as to why. But It would not be the whole story.
No doubt God gave me the ability and the mind set to work to do to over come, But God was darn sure there to carry me on many occasions.
God provide me a partner that held me up when I could not stand, when the light fade she pointed it out.
Luck maybe just Gods way of giving you a hand.
Careful what you pray for you may get it.


----------



## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Working hard is a subjective term. A guy with no education, no desire to improve, who digs ditches for a living is definitely working hard but it will never bring him any level of success. Another guy who works for someone else doing something maintenance but puts out the effort to educate himself and keeps his eyes open may see an opertunity when i comes along to better himself. Maybe he sees that he has an idea for a new tool to do his job and starts a business to build it. Now he is a businessman who sells supplies to othe people who are doing what he used to do.
Luck is just being open to the possibilities that abount and then working smart to make it pay off.

Both of these people worked hard but one of them also worked smart and got ahead.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Ditch digger working for the State or fed's may make 100K a year and retire a wealthy man. All a madder of perspective.
Hard work is not just about physical labor it is about what you put into it.


----------



## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Smitty901 said:


> Ditch digger working for the State or fed's may make 100K a year and retire a wealthy man. All a madder of perspective.
> Hard work is not just about physical labor it is about what you put into it.


Smart work is all about the return for what you put into it.


----------



## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

I'm more of a Carma type. Treat others like you want to be treated. 
If I do something stupid or treat someone bad seems like bad luck is on it's way. Maybe just coincidence. Work never seems to play into it.
Just because you work, start a business, and accumulate a pile on money doesn't make you a success or smart. IMO I've worked for a lot of back stabbing, penny pinching a##holes that thought just because they had a little money and owned a business they could do no wrong. Lie, cheat, steal and treat employees/customers like crap just to make a buck. They can rot in hell for the way they got to be a "success".


----------



## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Chipper said:


> I'm more of a Carma type. Treat others like you want to be treated.
> If I do something stupid or treat someone bad seems like bad luck is on it's way. Maybe just coincidence. Work never seems to play into it.
> Just because you work, start a business, and accumulate a pile on money doesn't make you a success or smart. IMO I've worked for a lot of back stabbing, penny pinching a##holes that thought just because they had a little money and owned a business they could do no wrong. Lie, cheat, steal and treat employees/customers like crap just to make a buck. They can rot in hell for the way they got to be a "success".


I worked for one guy likt that - an alcoholic who thought that his workers were over-paid and lazy. We worked hard when there was work but the business was so poorly managed that we would be working 32 hours one week and then have "emergency" overtime the next two. He just couldn't understand that if you treatedthe employees with some respect and managed your customers you could be busy all the time and make a lot of money too.
I was in business for myself at the same time working for him and I was constantly busy. I finally left to do my business for ten hours a day and trippled my income.


----------



## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

Ex-Chief of Staff Colin Powell had a good mindset as outlined in his autobiog 'A Soldiers Way', he said _"If you always do your best, people will notice_". He cited as an example one of the first jobs he had as a youth, sweeping out a store.
"You sweep pretty good kid" said the owner, and offered him a better job with more money.

I also like this quote- _"Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for quality, that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hall-mark of excellence"
-Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) _

Those two quotes pave the way to becoming a good luck magnet..


----------



## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

adamm said:


> hi everyone,
> 
> I strongly believe in hard work.There is no substitute for hard work , hard work is essential to be inculcated in each and every individual. Without hard work, we don't find almost anyone in this world achieving great feats.Therefore, I strongly assert that hardwork is key to success in anyone's career.
> 
> do u think is luck anywhere exist ............?


I have to disagree natural ability trumps both luck and hard work, So many people strive to achieve a high level in almost every field but the one that end up shining was born with a natural talent some times almost scary ability at a young age. Take these two prodigies they were born with abilities that know matter how hard a person works they probably will not achieve the same levels of performance. Some time a person will get lucky and be put in a position they don't deserve but they usually end up feeling out of place and not happy in what they are doing.

#1 Akiane Young Artist I don't care how hard I worked I could not achieve what she was doing at 5 years old Akiane Kramarik started drawing at the age of four, advancing to painting at six, and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for US$10,000 Now her original paintings sell between 10,000 to 3 million. She is considered one of the richest self made teenagers in the USA.
Home page

#2 Jackie Evancho Singer walked on to stage at 10 years old with out any training and before she was 11 became the #1 clascial singer in the US and youngest person to have a platinum record. I don't know how much she has made but I feel sorry for her when she get to the 8th grade and they wan't you to make a resume http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Evancho






I have a mechanical ability that just seems to come natural to me and I can look back and see even at a very young age I was taking things apart to see how they worked. Other fields I realize I never could be good at such as sales.


----------



## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

Mudder.Mitch said:


> I find the harder I work the more luck I have


Took the words right outta my fingers, so to speak...


----------



## IngaLisa (Jan 31, 2013)

Good luck is being born rich and not having to work.

Bad luck is working your butt off to make your business a success, and having the guy with good luck open up a business and get a no-bid government contract, getting rich off your tax dollar as you lose business to him.

Hard work is not the only factor in the wealth equation. Hard work now, doesn't get you what it got my generation born 60 years ago.

Really bad luck is being born in Bangladesh.


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

I know now I am paid much more now than I was by the Army. The Army owned me 24/7 and you can bet when deployment time came they used every bit of that time. I was required to do more and more the higher I went. I attended more schools and training than I can remember. There was very little so called my time.
For the Army I put in a heck of a lot more for less pay. No regrets I had a hell of a time.


----------



## longrider (Mar 25, 2013)

My Dad, Joe, worked hard, long hours all his life. He always said "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." (a quote by Benjamine Franklin). He would then say, "I'm healthy and pretty damn wise, but I'm not wealthy, because I can't get to bed early." He wasn't monitarily wealthy. He & Mom had 10 kids, he owned a hardware store, ran a plumbing and heating business, septick tank pumping all at the same time. He was also the Volunteer Fire Chief, belonged to Knights of Columbus, and was in the Navy Reserves, and a Deputy Sherrif of Wright County. (Remember, he had 10 kids, Mom and Grandma to support) at the same time as the hardware store. And if you ask anyone in the town of Waverly, MN who was Joe Herda, you would find respect, fondness, admiration and people who have stories of him that go on...

That, my friends, is wealthy. He could ask anyone to help him at any time, and never be turned down. But it was almost always the other way around. Dad was always there to help. And I find myself rich, in his example, and the things he taught me. My work ethic. I don't have a lot of money, but what I have is an appreciation for what I do have. That makes me rich and lucky to have been born to my circumstances.

Hard work and recognizing an opportunity.. That _is_ lucky
Wow. I sure ran on... Sorry


----------



## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

I have to say I'm all about how you take it...Luck is always gonna be there, bad luck, good luck, it is just the way you percieve "the hand that gets dealt to you". I have employees that complain about "not having enough money", yet, they never want overtime(time and a half), and some who just say, Oh, Im having a bad year. BS. I have been working smart and hard since I was old enough to cut the grass in the neihborhhod, and dad had one rule. I could use his equipment, only if our yard was up to shape. I was a hustling little kid, lining up jobs on Monday and Tuesdays, working my big butt off on wednesday and Thursday, and going swimming, riding, boyscouting or any other thing I wanted to do all weekend. Luck is there, you just gotta be ready to get off the couch and go answer the door when it knocks. Just yesterday, I sold an Air conditioner that I had aquired. I had to replace the glass in the building I got it from, was about 12 dollars last year. Put the AC away, now just sold it for $100. My boss and I both knew that if we left it in the building it was installed on, it would dissappear, and have an open window. You gotta be willing to reach out there and grab oporatunity. 
Smitty, Longrider- its people like you guys, and the people around you, that make this world better. Longrider- my dad was named Joe also..Kool.


----------



## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

We're programmed from an early age by parents, teachers and society to believe that our purpose in life is to get married, have kids, get a good well-paid job, nice house, nice car, nice possessions etc.
That's fine if people want to go along with that, but there are many people who *don't* want it and prefer a simpler more relaxed approach to life instead.
As an extreme example, monks and nuns are quite happy to shut themselves away in remote monasteries and convents all their lives.
I remember reading an explorers account of when he tried to explain our "civilised" way of life to a jungle tribe, he told them people liked to be wealthy.
"How many meals a day does a rich man eat?" one of the tribesmen asked.
"Three a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner" replied the explorer.
"Same as us" answered the tribesman with a smile.

As for "work", many remote tribes don't even have that word in their vocabulary and they don't know what it means.
They loll in their hammocks then somebody randomly says "I think i'll go catch some fish", or "I think i'll plant some crops", or "I fancy picking some fruit" etc, and off they go, perhaps joined by a few mates, nobody ever says "I'd better do some work".

Food for thought- Jesus's young cousin John was a world-rejecter living a self-sufficient life out in the wilderness dressed in animal skins and occasionally going in town to yell insults at the snooty priests and corrupt rulers.
Jesus's verdict on him?-
_"John is the greatest man ever to be born" (Matt 11:11)_

John v Herod and Salome-


----------



## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

How do we impress these ideas upon our lawmakers, both in DC and our state capitals??


----------



## IngaLisa (Jan 31, 2013)

Our lawmakers are owned by large multinational corporations, with the exception of a few. I don't think most of them represent us as people who earn less than $500,000 per year, which I think is a pretty wide range for income for those on this board.

Citizens United was about allowing corporations the right to vote.


----------



## longrider (Mar 25, 2013)

It would be *really* nice if the government clowns remembered this phrase: "Of the people; By the People; For the People." I would, _right now _like to get my hands on a "CEO" or CFO or overpaid buerocrat from the oil industry. I would impart violence on them, but not life threatening. Probably just life altering. But that's for another thread, I guess.


----------



## Pir8fan (Nov 16, 2012)

Hard work creates its own luck.


----------



## wesley762 (Oct 23, 2012)

It takes a lot of both. but honestly some people just have that magical touch when it comes to Luck. Me personaly if it where not for bad luck I would not have any luck at all. but I for sure have plenty of hard work that has paid off for me.


----------



## pastornator (Apr 5, 2013)

Pir8fan said:


> Hard work creates its own luck.


Exactly...

Wish I had a dollar from every person who told me how "lucky" I was to be able to know or do some difficult or complex task. I examine my beat up body and hands, my eyes that are permanently altered from so many books over soon many years, and my mostly empty wallet from buying tools and supplies, and ask, what luck? I worked my patootie off to be able to know and do that.


----------

