Luck vs Choice 3&4

 

Why Luck Matters More Than Choice

    We like to believe we’re in control. We make plans, weigh options, set goals, and then execute them with the idea that success is the logical outcome of smart choices and hard work. But there’s a quieter, more invisible force that often plays a far greater role in determining our fate: luck.

It’s not a comforting thought. The idea that randomness, timing, and uncontrollable variables matter more than our decisions seems to undermine our sense of agency. But once we start to look closer, the evidence is hard to ignore: luck shapes more of our lives than we care to admit.

From childhood, we're taught that good choices lead to good outcomes. Study hard, and you’ll get into a good school. Work diligently, and you’ll be promoted. Be kind, and good people will come into your life. How often does this reign true? How many times have you tried to get on the woodside of a coworker, but despite your efforts, they just never warm to you?

These aren’t bad lessons, but they’re incomplete. For every story of someone who succeeded by making all the "right" choices, there are countless others who did the same but failed due to bad timing, illness, a downturn in the market, or being born in the wrong zip code. Conversely, many wildly successful people made questionable choices, but were lucky enough to escape the consequences.

Consider this: you didn’t choose to be born in a particular country, to a particular family, or in a certain decade. Yet these factors determine a massive portion of your opportunities in life. Being born into a stable home in a peaceful country already gives you a massive head start over someone born into poverty or conflict. There are certain undeserved advantages or disadvantages thrust upon us at birth. On a broader scale, race, gender, and sexuality are all predisposed social constructs that predate all of us, and yet, we have to navigate the ways they affect our lives. There are countless ways in which luck can set us on a certain path from the moment we enter this world.

That’s not to say choice or effort is meaningless. Skill, discipline, and persistence matter, a lot. But even those qualities need the right context to bear fruit. A brilliant entrepreneur might fail if they launch their business during a recession. A talented artist might go undiscovered simply because they didn’t meet the right person or live in the right city. In the real world, success is often where preparation meets opportunity, but someone has to open the door for that opportunity. And that’s often pure chance.

Think about the most important relationships in your life. How many of them were the result of deliberate choice versus chance encounters? You might have met your best friend or partner because you were randomly assigned as roommates in college, or happened to attend a certain event. You couldn’t have planned it.

Or take health. You can eat right, exercise, avoid smoking, and still be diagnosed with a genetic disease or suffer an accident. Meanwhile, someone else might abuse their body for decades and live a long life. Luck doesn’t play fair.

Acknowledging the power of luck doesn’t mean becoming passive or bitter. Instead, it can make us more empathetic. It reminds us to be humble about our successes and more compassionate toward others who haven’t had the same breaks. We've all heard that "life isn't fair". That knowledge shouldn't bind us, it should equip us with the skills to recoup when something unexpected crosses our path.

It also helps us recognize that life isn’t a perfect meritocracy. That’s crucial when we think about policy, fairness, and opportunity. If success were purely a matter of choice, we could blame people for their struggles. But when we recognize the huge role of luck, we’re more likely to support systems that give everyone a fairer shot.

In the end, the truth might be this: choice shapes the path, but luck opens the doors. The smartest thing we can do is prepare for opportunity, remain open to the unpredictable, and be kind, because we never know which turn of fate might change everything.

 

Why Choice Matters More Than Luck

Now let's observe these same points from the opposite perspective. It’s tempting to credit success to luck. After all, we’ve all seen people rise to the top seemingly by accident, born into the right family, handed the right job, or stumbling into a golden opportunity. But while luck may open a door or two, it’s choice, our decisions, actions, and mindset, that determines where we go from there.

Luck may give you a moment. Choice gives you a life.

Let’s be clear: luck exists. We don’t choose where we’re born, who our parents are, or what era we live in. These factors influence our starting point, but not our destination. To believe otherwise is to assume we are merely passengers in our own lives. Yet look around and you’ll find people from the same neighborhoods, same schools, same backgrounds, some succeed, others don’t. The difference? The choices they made with what they had.

Most lives aren’t shaped by one dramatic stroke of fortune but by hundreds of small decisions. What time you get up. How you treat people. Whether you keep learning or stay stagnant. Whether you take the risk or play it safe. Over time, these choices compound like interest. Some people get a tough hand and still manage to win. Think of individuals who overcame poverty, discrimination, or trauma to build meaningful lives. Their journey wasn’t easier, it was harder. But they kept choosing progress, day after day. In contrast, others are dealt great hands, wealth, education, opportunity, and squander them through poor decisions.

That’s what separates those who grow from those who stay stuck, not luck, but consistent, intentional action.

People often wait for luck to show up, believing success requires the perfect opportunity. But opportunities are rarely obvious. They appear disguised as hard work, risk, or rejection. Those that know how to play the game of life, know that it is your responsibility to create your opportunities. Find out where your connections are, get into those rooms, place yourself in the same spaces as those you strive to be. What distinguishes successful people is not luck, but their willingness to choose, to try again, to learn from failure, to take the uncomfortable route when it matters most. Choice is what transforms a possibility into a path.

Luck is unpredictable. If you rely on it, you live at its mercy. But choice builds something more powerful: resilience. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, your ability to respond, adapt, and grow is what carries you forward. That’s why two people can face the same setback, and only one recovers. Not because they were luckier, but because they chose to learn instead of break.

Ironically, many of the people we call “lucky” made choices that put them in luck’s way. They chose to show up early. Chose to work hard. Chose to network. Chose to be curious. And when luck finally knocked, they were ready.

So maybe it’s not about luck versus choice, but realizing that smart choices create their own kind of luck. Perhaps, it is the way you set yourself up to receive luck. The choices you make, that determine the path that will follow.

Luck may set the stage, but choice writes the story. Every decision you make, how you spend your time, who you surround yourself with, what you focus on, shapes the arc of your life. Waiting for luck to rescue you is a gamble. Choosing action, growth, and courage? That’s a strategy.

In the end, it’s not where you start, it’s what you choose to do next that makes all the difference.