The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get

Sometimes luck is simply a function of being in the game. The more games you play, the more opportunities for "luck" that emerge.

A good example is in the 4 Hour Workweek when a college class was given a seemingly hard challenge and it seemed so hard that nobody even attempted it. The prize was like a trip around the world or something.

The next year he told about how anyone who even attempted it the year before would have won by default. Then all the students tried and they had incredible results.

Another example would be building apps and putting them out there. You never know if one is going to be a hit, but if you keep making them, eventually you get "lucky".

"In chess there’s a saying, “only the good players are lucky”. Whenever a good player wins a game, the angry opponent often says, “ahh, you were just lucky”. But it always seems the good player gets lucky more than the bad player." - http://blogs.wsj.com/financial-adviser/2011/04/18/how-i-help...

"The harder I practice, the luckier I get."

I'm aware of that quote being attributed to Gary Player. For example: http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/myshot_gd0210

The hardest thing is to take another swing at the bat. You can have a great idea with a terrific team but just be too early. Having once tasted failure it's not easy to risk everything again. But without multiple swings at the bat you will will never have the chance to know success.