Are some people born lucky and some born unlucky?

I really dislike that saying, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.’
Of course it’s true in many cases, when it’s a case of putting the extra effort in, e.g. for exams or at work, but there are plenty of people who have always worked hard, who never seem to be favoured by fortune at all.
How often do you hear of people who, despite working as hard as anybody, are overlooked for promotion purely because they haven’t sucked up to the right people (kissed the right arses!) - or e.g. deviously taken the credit for someone else’s work? Etc. Etc.

Though in theory I suppose you could call either of those ploys ‘making your own luck’.

M0nica

We have no control over the events that happen to us in life, but we do have control over how we respond to them and manage them.

I come from a family where time and again people have shown their capacity to triumph over adversity, unaided by money or influential friends. Just sheer bloodymindedness and a refusal to be cowed by 'bad luck'. As a result they were very 'lucky'

Perhaps they were lucky in the genes they inherited.

Or lucky in the examples their ancestors gave them?

Or lucky in the way their brains were wired in a positive not negative way? (determined by nature - hormones and nurture - parenting).

Things are far more complicated than at first we thought.

Remember that rhyme ‘Monday’s child’? Seems to have been pretty accurate across my family! ( If you’re as daft as me and want to check this out, you can convert birthdates to their weekday with an internet search…)

welbeck I really like what you’ve said and it resonates with me. Life can be random, and we do not all start with the same life chances, even decisions we make may not be truly under our control. We can’t choose our parents, poor or rich, clever or dull, nurturing or neglectful. Our genetic predisposition to certain diseases, our personality types, or early life experiences, our intelligence. So much baggage will influence our decision making good or bad. It pleases us to think we have control, but do we?

I believe some people are born under a lucky star. My son most definitely was! It never ceases to amaze me how everything he does always works out more than brilliantly. Yes he’s worked hard but in a career he adores so that’s a plus. He’s a great bloke and I’m very happy for him but as his mum I can tell you from day one he’s always been lucky. I think it’s very glib to say you make your own luck. Some people spend their lives working hard, being good people and yet time after time something always goes wrong. And they’ve tried to make their own luck!