Buzz
While it's crucial to value your efforts, it's also important to accept that we all experience moments of luck (or misfortune). Although it’s beneficial to concentrate on what you can control, there are compelling reasons to also recognize external factors beyond your control.
Personal finance expert Carl Richards highlights this perspective in the New York Times. Richards explains:
Many of us hesitate to credit luck for our achievements, fearing it undermines our skills or hard work. But here’s the dilemma: If bad luck is beyond your control, then good luck, too, can arise without your efforts. And that's perfectly fine.
This perspective is especially helpful if you tend to blame yourself for situations beyond your control. By accepting luck’s influence, you can refocus on what you can control and shift from dwelling on the problem to finding a solution.
Acknowledging the role of luck can help you avoid self-attribution bias, a tendency to view situations in a way that protects your ego. A study in the Journal of Experimental and Behavioral Economics examined how individuals perceived their investing skills based on their returns. When the returns were positive, they attributed it to their expertise. But when the market dropped, as it sometimes does, they blamed it on bad luck. Regardless of the outcome, they only took credit when things went well. This mindset can be problematic: by ignoring luck, you might convince yourself you’re a brilliant investor, make poor decisions, and end up losing money.
The key is understanding when luck is on your side and when it's not. Acknowledging luck allows you to assess situations with more clarity, helping you make better decisions and leverage your luck to your advantage.
Recognizing the role of luck also fosters empathy. When you overemphasize hard work and disregard luck, it’s easy to think that everyone else should achieve the same success. But when you understand that luck plays a part, you can keep your ego in check, view things more impartially, and reduce judgment. Richards expands on this idea in his full post, which you can read at the link below.
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