John Wooden said, "Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out." I'm going to take it a step further and say, "Things work out best for those who work to make it work!" Repetitive use of the word "work" aside, this is a pretty simple statement: good things don't come to those who wait, but they come to those who get up off their butts, go out, and make it work. We've all heard the stories of those people who sort of "tripped" their way into success. They happened to stumble across the perfect combination of ingredients at just the right time, and their work ended up paying off HUGELY. One example that springs to mind is Andy Weir, author of The Martian. His work of writing the book ended up earning him a movie deal (for an amazing movie), a publishing deal, and no doubt a future of success. However, things like this are always the exception. For every Andy Weir, there are 1,000 Stephen Kings, authors who bust their butts writing thousands of hours per year until they finally see some small modicum of success--YEARS later! That's the harsh truth of life: some people may have it easier, but it's probably not going to be YOU. You're going to have to work your butt off just to see even a small amount of "success", and it's not going to happen overnight. Counting on luck is not the way to achieve anything great. Luck definitely will play a role in your success (right place at the right time, or right book at the right time), but if you're relying entirely on it, you're going to fail, and hard! The only way to make anything work is to get out there and work it. Work smart, but work hard. Polish your craft, work at being the best you can be, and don't stop. People who work to make it work are the ones who are going to go the distance and see the "success" they want!