Luck

 

It is a common practice to associate a strong belief in luck with losers. "Bad luck" is an easy excuse for people who have not worked hard enough or effectively enough to succeed. 

And yet it seems unrealistic to dismiss luck as a myth. There are people who are in the right place at the right time and there are their opposites. Effort and brilliance have nothing to do with it.

[Check out the definition of "schlimazel." To borrow a common example, if a schlimazel bought a funeral home, people would stop dying.]

Exploiting the opportunity is another story. The person who gets the break usually has to perform . . . unless another injection of luck arrives and genuine performance is not measured.