Does luck have anything to do with success?
Real Estate Professional · Atlanta GA · Member since 2015 · 615 posts · 225 votes
Does luck have anything to do with success?
Most Popular Reply
Real Estate Consultant · Cleveland · Member since 2020 · 6k+ posts · 3k+ votes
2yQuote from @Peter Vekselman:
Does luck have anything to do with success?
It has as much to do as hard work.
As much as determination.
As much as ability to align with successful people.
As much as attitude.
As much as the right opportunity.
As much as knowledge.
As much as perseverance.
As much as all the things that you tend to control and encounter on a daily bases.
Yet luck maybe the secret weapon that has the ability to literally change everything. The ability to take you several levels higher. The ability to go from nothing to Everything.
One thing about luck is you never know when it will hit, how it will show up, or in what form it will appear.
So here’s the best way I have been able to put my hands on how to achieve luck and be the benefactor. You simply have to be around when it hits. You have to keep on battling, keep on being present, and keep on keeping on.
To Good Luck!
NO, its amazing how lucky I get the harder I work,
All the best
18 Replies
- Real Estate Consultant · Cleveland · Member since 2020 · 6k+ posts · 3k+ votes2y
Quote from @Peter Vekselman:
Does luck have anything to do with success?
It has as much to do as hard work.
As much as determination.
As much as ability to align with successful people.
As much as attitude.
As much as the right opportunity.
As much as knowledge.
As much as perseverance.
As much as all the things that you tend to control and encounter on a daily bases.
Yet luck maybe the secret weapon that has the ability to literally change everything. The ability to take you several levels higher. The ability to go from nothing to Everything.
One thing about luck is you never know when it will hit, how it will show up, or in what form it will appear.
So here’s the best way I have been able to put my hands on how to achieve luck and be the benefactor. You simply have to be around when it hits. You have to keep on battling, keep on being present, and keep on keeping on.
To Good Luck!
NO, its amazing how lucky I get the harder I work,
All the best
- Real Estate Investor · TN · Member since 2010 · 294 posts · 160 votes2y
I've always found that preparation, hard work, and most importantly taking Action are the keys to luck. Opportunities are all around we just have to be ready to act on them when they present themselves. I've often heard that preparation (education) meeting opportunity equals success, but I disagree. I think it just results in smart people watching things happen. It takes action to be successful.
- Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes2y
I think this all hinges on how you define success. If your definition of success is purely financial, luck can be said to have everything to do with it. For instance, I was not "lucky enough" to be born into a family that had setup a multimillion dollar trust fund that I can leverage to build even more wealth.
I was lucky enough to be born at a time that allowed me to take advantage of the financial crisis and all the Single Family foreclosures that allowed me to grow my net worth significantly. Hard work, determination and a level of risk taking to take advantage of this opportunity was mine, but luck had everything to do with timing and Lifestage I was at to jump on those opportunities.
- 2yBruce WoodruffPro MemberContractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
You can't just sit around and wait for luck to arrive though, because it never will.....
Like @Bob S. said....'the harder I work, the luckier I get'
- Real Estate Investor · TN · Member since 2010 · 294 posts · 160 votes2y
Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:
You can't just sit around and wait for luck to arrive though, because it never will.....
Like @Bob S. said....'the harder I work, the luckier I get'
I agree Bruce, people have been able to become successful in different locations and different time periods regardless of what was going on around them.
- Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes2y
When we started 2016 investing in a low-income area-- everyone called us "naive" and "crazy" and thought we were idiots. I just always believed that everyone needs a home, maybe not the fanciest or ritziest area, but a solid, safe, livable, and clean place to call home.
Now that the area is turning around and flippers are there, everyone says we were "lucky" to have jumped in when we did. IMO it's not luck, it's risk assessment. It was a very high-risk time when no one else wanted to touch the area.
- Real Estate Investor · TN · Member since 2010 · 294 posts · 160 votes2y
Quote from @Linda S.:
When we started 2016 investing in a low-income area-- everyone called us "naive" and "crazy" and thought we were idiots. I just always believed that everyone needs a home, maybe not the fanciest or ritziest area, but a solid, safe, livable, and clean place to call home.
Now that the area is turning around and flippers are there, everyone says we were "lucky" to have jumped in when we did. IMO it's not luck, it's risk assessment. It was a very high-risk time when no one else wanted to touch the area.
Great point Linda. You made a decision and acted when others did not and now you are "lucky" to have what you have. Congratulations.
- Rental Property Investor · Somewhere over the Rainbow · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes2y
Thomas Jefferson "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
I think the point here is that working hard and being consistent CAN increase the likelihood of success. And at the exact same time being "lucky" CAN also increase the likelihood of success.
I mean just off the top: the situation you were born into, the spouse you meet, their family, your family, your health, the connections made available to you etc - there are literally TONS of circumstances that contribute to success that have nothing to do with hard work.
I'm not so naive that I'm going to sit here and act like luck has nothing to do with success
- Flipper/Rehabber · CA · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes2y
Quote from @Peter Vekselman:
Does luck have anything to do with success?
It has as much to do as hard work.
As much as determination.
As much as ability to align with successful people.
As much as attitude.
As much as the right opportunity.
As much as knowledge.
As much as perseverance.
As much as all the things that you tend to control and encounter on a daily bases.
Yet luck maybe the secret weapon that has the ability to literally change everything. The ability to take you several levels higher. The ability to go from nothing to Everything.
One thing about luck is you never know when it will hit, how it will show up, or in what form it will appear.
So here’s the best way I have been able to put my hands on how to achieve luck and be the benefactor. You simply have to be around when it hits. You have to keep on battling, keep on being present, and keep on keeping on.
To Good Luck!
"I'd rather be lucky than good"
Credit to Lefty Gomez
- 2yEric GoldmanBusiness MemberLender · PA · Member since 2019 · 359 posts · 192 votes
LUCK. (Labor under correct knowledge). you can make your own luck by doing the right things.
G2loans- Investor and Commercial Mortgages531 Reviews - Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes2y
"Luck" is a RESULT, not a happening.
"Luck" is the crowd's chant to a last second 3pt shot to win the game, ignorant and oblivious to the years of training, to make last second 3pt jump shot's from half court.
"Luck" is a RESULT, of when PREPERATION meet's OPPORTUNITY....
"Luck" is MADE, not had....
- Investor · Fresno, CA · Member since 2016 · 222 posts · 237 votes2y
Quote from @Peter Vekselman:
Does luck have anything to do with success?
It has as much to do as hard work.
As much as determination.
As much as ability to align with successful people.
As much as attitude.
As much as the right opportunity.
As much as knowledge.
As much as perseverance.
As much as all the things that you tend to control and encounter on a daily bases.
Yet luck maybe the secret weapon that has the ability to literally change everything. The ability to take you several levels higher. The ability to go from nothing to Everything.
One thing about luck is you never know when it will hit, how it will show up, or in what form it will appear.
So here’s the best way I have been able to put my hands on how to achieve luck and be the benefactor. You simply have to be around when it hits. You have to keep on battling, keep on being present, and keep on keeping on.
To Good Luck!
Yes, of course there is a tremendous amount of randomness and chance in life. Any endeavor has this component, real estate or otherwise. Failure also has a ton of "bad luck" involved. If your business was not pandemic resistant and you got wiped out that is just plain bad luck.
Luck is not in the sphere of influence though. You cannot control it. Win some, lose some. So don't worry about it. Make calculated bets, plan for failure, and outwork the percentage of losing. If luck is another way to say statistical randomness in a given endeavor, then you simply need to play long enough to have the odds in your favor. And so long as you have outsized returns (leverage) on the upside/good luck you'll come out far ahead. Private equity is a great example of this. Perhaps only 5% of their deals hit unicorn status, but when they do their 100x valuation covers all of the losers and then some.
Don't work hard enough to succeed, work hard enough that it is unreasonable that you would not succeed.
Good luck ;-)
- Rental Property Investor · Bow, NH · Member since 2016 · 216 posts · 185 votes2y
@James Hamling
Not sure I agree. Luck can be you're circumstance. I was lucky to be born in the USA vs a third world War torn nation. I was lucky to be born healthy and able minded vs the alternative. I was lucky to attend college (I certainly didn't deserve it or work hard for it). I was lucky to have loving parents who taught
me ethics, morals, and the value of Hard work.
Your circumstance (luck) has a huge impact on you're probability of success. Those born into unlucky circumstances can certainly be successful but they must work much harder to overcome. That being said those born into lucky circumstances can, and do, blow it.
Luck certainly has a significant impact on the foundation of success but hardwork is what gets you there.
- Lender · Buda, TX · Member since 2021 · 10 posts · 7 votes2y
There's always going to be things outside your control that help or hurt your results, that's 'luck' to me. To the point of the OP, a big part of success is studying other successful people, consistenly doing all you can to learn from them and develop the habits that help those people and then often it's having the patience and fortitude to last long enough for your 'lucky break/s' to come. How much of the end result is 'luck' vs 'doing the right things' depends on the eye of the beholder, you can tell the exact same story to two people with different worldviews and have get completely different interpretations of what led to that success.
- Real Estate Agent · Denver CO · Member since 2019 · 210 posts · 333 votes2y
Love it @Dan Thomas and completely agree! Lucky I didn't get in a car accident on the way to work today or wake up with an incurable terminal illness...
Don't kid yourself, a lot of us have worked very hard but have also been very lucky and blessed along the way.
- Member since 2022 · 186 posts · 192 votes2y
I think is a bit of luck in things, however a lot of “luck” is being right place right time. But you have to put yourself in that place. Some examples of luck I’ve heard. People buy a unit thinking they were getting a single family. They bought expecting a single unit, come to find out it was zoned multi family, adding a 2000$ window makes a multi. I work with a guy who had bought mineral rights to his property(not luck) then had a massive oil pipe bust that no one knew about. Now what he collects in payments from oil company more than pays his mortgage.
We make some of our own luck. That said playing sports there is luck. A guy hitting a 3/4 shot in basketball who couldn’t hit a standard three point shot is luck. A Defensive back slipping at line of scrimmage and Wide Reciever catching a wide open pass is luck. Hitting the lottery is luck. Rich family members leaving some idiot offspring an inheritance is luck.I will say this though most things are blessings and neither luck nor skill. I was blessed to be born in USA. I was blessed to be able to think somewhat logically. I am blessed to have pretty good health. These things are way beyond the scope of anything I could do. I can’t choose where I was born and raised, I didn’t choose to have good health it was given to me(yes I know lifestyle choice factor into health).
- Handyman · Monroe, WA · Member since 2021 · 26 posts · 25 votes2y
My favorite author is Michael Lewis, who wrote "The Big Short" and "Moneyball" among other great reads. He described Scott Hatteberg's approach to hitting in "Moneyball" and how Hatteberg showed discipline at the plate, only swinging at pitches he knew he could hit well.
I took this as a metaphor for RE investing. I know what my "strike zone" is. I've made enough mistakes going through a learning curve to know which pitches, or deals so to speak, to swing at.
The hard part was learning which deals to NOT swing at. That discipline applies in MLB hitters and real estate alike. I think that's a lot of what luck is: Being in the right frame of mind, at the right time when a deal is just too good to pass up.
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.