Just Lucky

Beginners Luck

Recently, a good friend of mine bravely and boldly quit her job and started her own recruiting company.  She has two young kids and was traveling 90% of the time. She was working too hard for too little and not doing what she was passionate about.  Though she needed the income she knew she could be successful in her own business and she set out to prove it.  That is exactly what she did. Is she “just lucky”?

She had never done this for a living, but within 3 months earned more than she had the entire last year. She is passionate, dedicated to her people, and will work hard to get the job done.  While many in her close circle celebrated her success, she also kept hearing the phrases like, “you are lucky” and “beginners luck”. I am sure those people did not have an intent to hurt, but this was upsetting to someone like her.

Why did such statements bother her? Luck is something that happens by chance.  It wasn’t just by chance she became successful in her own business. It was challenging work, determination, years of building networks and contacts, and using the right skills for the job she was meant to do.  Would you ever hear someone say that it was luck that allowed Michael Jordan to make that game winning shot? No, it was skill, practice, and dedication.

Leave It To Chance?

I have heard this statement as well.  When you come from little and achieve more than most expected, luck is a word often used by others to explain your position. But you see, I have worked in fast food, t-shirt printing, concession-stands, and was a waitress at restaurants and bars. I have spent hours stocking and cashiering at retail stores, worked in warehouses, answered phones at IT help-desk’s, and one summer I even roofed houses.

Many times, I did these things at the same time and while going to school. I put in my duty on every shift imaginable and took every project that anyone would ever give me – no matter the insanity. Like many can probably relate, I am working my way up the management ladder one rung at a time. I push myself to be better and when I fail, (and there have been many of those times) I learn from it and move on to the next challenge.

While I will admit there may have been some chance for meeting the right people at the right time, the work I did to get to that place was not luck. This was not chance. This was challenging and hard-work. I am sure there are many that can relate.

Just Lucky or Bad Ass?

I know many believe it is divine intervention, karma, or fate that shapes our future and I do not take away from this belief.But in those higher powers, you must recognize it is not by chance.  Luck may play a part in life, who can really say? But is reducing someone’s hard-work, skill, and dedication to chance the way we should congratulate them on their achievements?

I started paying attention to these “luck” statements a few years ago and I wondered if men hear this as much as women. I have personally never heard it said about a successful man, (though I am sure it is) but I often hear it said about successful women. Unfortunately, I mostly hear the luck phrases from other women. Why is this? Is it because it has been said to them so many times or because women tend to be harder on other women as the Forbes article “Women In the Workplace: Are Women Tougher on Other Women” suggests? Should we make an effort to change this attitude?

So, Managing It All readers, I ask you, is it luck that drives our future or is it what we make it? Maybe it’s a combination, but does attributing success to chance need to be the defining factor and diminish the sacrifice and work along the path? Does success for a woman have to mean just lucky or could it just mean she is a bad ass entrepreneur?