“Wow! Don’t you feel you are just lucky to be the way you are?” She was Shreya, a family acquaintance. These were her words when she knew more about what I was doing and some of my future projects.

This was absolutely not the first time I was hearing this word, “just lucky”. Every time, when I meet an old acquaintance or “far-off siblings” they always tend to feel that I am just lucky to have all those things that I am proud of.

Recently, I had the privilege to attend my high school reunion where I met many of my old acquaintances, friends, and some faces that I merely knew were studying with me. While we all were discussing ins and outs of our life, one of my old acquaintance bumped into our discussion taking it to a totally opposite direction.

“Aditya! You are doing phenomenally well. You are just 19 and you have recently republished your book, you address audiences quite often, you are hosting your own show, Interview With Aditya which I am a fan of, you manage a community, Be An Author, you operate goodness program, create websites, and as if this was not enough, recently you have joined one of the renowned IT firms as a “content writer”, if I’m not wrong.” Then they pause for a while and continue… “Well, how do you manage all these stuff? Don’t you think you are extremely lucky to get to do all these amazing things that I dream of, daily?”

“Not exactly. I am extremely grateful for everything that I’m blessed to be and possess, however, I don’t feel I’m ‘just lucky’ to have it all. I’m surprised why you feel that way? I believe, luck just doesn’t work that way. I have spent warm days and cold nights, polishing my skills, reading books, watching training courses, and moving towards something day in and day out. Probably, I missed the latest movie that you enjoyed on the first day it was released. Maybe I missed that midnight party that you were looking forward to since long – but this is what I know, it was worth it! The fruits of success that I’m enjoying today have not emerged from a tree of luck! Well, it was sheer hard work, sleepless nights, and a price that so many weren’t willing to pay.” I paused for a moment to see his reaction and then added, “You know what? People don’t get what they desire, they only get what they deserve. I learned to work hard on myself then other people do on their jobs. Because I knew a secret. Let me share it with you: If you work hard at your job, you will make a living, however, if you work hard on yourself, you will definitely make a fortune. I preferred the later one.” I again took a little pause and threw a question right on his head: “Well, don’t you feel so, you too are as lucky as I’m?”

“Well, I’ve yet not cleared my engineering and this is my fifth year with it. I’m far off my wildest ambitions. How in the world you feel I’m lucky? I have neither published my book, that I have been dreaming of since ages, nor I was able to qualify for my fourth year’s final engineering examination. I wonder… What made you think that I’m as lucky as you are?”

“You can do absolutely everything that a human being can potentially do. You are not blind, deaf, dumb or stupid! The most interesting thing that made me think that you must be as lucky as me, is that I thought you too might be having 24 hours a day, do you?” Now, this was hard on him. There was an unusual silence for while which was broken by a crappy joke by another friend. So the conversation went in the air.

I’m not pretty sure why so many people fall into the trap of giving their life gears to “mere luck” hoping that things would be better someday. They hope that someday, they will reach the destination without moving even an inch in that direction. Well, we call it “insanity”. How can you hope success too “just happen”? You cannot be too casual. You cannot just hope success to fall upon you someday, you need to work for it, day in and day out.

No Pain; guess what? no gain!

He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.

— James Allen

The extraordinary commitment of the young Mozart, under the guidance of his father, produced one of the most prolific and influential composers of the classical era. Mozart had clocked up 3500 hours by the time he was 6 and had studied his chosen profession for 18 years before he wrote his Piano Concerto No 9 at the age of 21.

The important thing is this: to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become. 

— Charles Dickens

We all have limited time and energy, but few of us ever become truly exceptional at more than one thing, if anything at all. Choose to pursue what brings out the best in you.

Success does not come from mere “luck”. It requires hard work, self-discipline, determination and a commitment to never settle for anything less than you can possibly be. Everything has a price. And if you are ignorant enough to pay the price of it, guess what? It would cost you a fortune! And if you don’t start to work towards your wildest ambitions thinking that now it’s too late to start, guess what? In 5 years, you will end up “nowhere”. That’s a strange place anyone could be at. The land of nowhere is a place where you end up driving what you don’t want to drive, doing what you don’t want to do, wearing what you don’t want to wear, eating what you don’t like to smell and being what you don’t want to become.

And if you truly want to reach the “dreamland” – guess what? You should start working harder on yourself than you do on your job. Your dreamland is at the right, and the land of “nowhere” is on the left. Which way would you love to go?

P.S. Here’s a tip: if you go in the “right” direction, you would soon start experiencing “miracles” that can potentially transform your course of life. Some people also call it luck!

“The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.”