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Ask HN: Would you rather be lucky or good?

1 points by fjw ↗ HN
The other day, one of my classes involved an extremely heated discussion on whether success is based more on luck or more on skill/effort. Surprisingly, the class was pretty evenly split between the two, with very extreme views on both sides. In reality, the two concepts aren't mutually exclusive, but if you had to pick one or the other, would you rather be lucky or good?

4 comments

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phektus
Local saying: Daig ang masipag ng maswerteng tamad (a lucky sloth is usually better off than a hard worker). Must be a terrible joke, but ultimately I believe hard work + opportunity = success.
fjw
This is more of a combination of the two, which I feel is most certainly the best pathway to success. People tend to give too little credit to luck (especially if they've worked hard as well), but here's the way I see it: you can have a lot of people who put in the same amount of work and are equally as talented, but the luckier ones are the ones who meet more success.

However, if you had to pick only one, your saying would seem to hint that luck outweighs effort and that's a sentiment that has been pretty common through the years (former Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez - "I'd rather be lucky than good.") I'm interested in seeing which of the two would be more desired if a single choice between the two was presented.

Mz
When I took archery, someone attributed my skill to "luck". I think "luck" often means "I don't understand what went right or how to replicate that result". I would rather understand what went right, if possible, so I can do it again fairly reliably. Therefore I would rather be good than "lucky" -- good enough that other people accuse me of having "luck".
gexla
This depends on the situation. I would rather be a good driver than a lucky driver.

For success in general, I would rather be lucky. The thing about luck is that it's a word which conceals a lot of behind the scenes action. We create our own luck and that creation often involves a lot of flailing around. That's something many "good" people may avoid, and that may be holding them back.