Why None of the Oscar Nominees are Lucky

Getty Images: Paul Hawthorne

I am happy for all of the newly announced nominees for the Academy Awards. I respect their talents and wish them well. But I don't think any of them are lucky. Luck implies that they were somehow born with something different, selected for greatness by an unknown hand of fate, and that they had nothing to do with their success. Every highly successful person I have known or learned about has had quite a bit to do with their success. They identified the things that they were passionate about and worked hard to add the necessary skills. They stayed focused, often saying no to other opportunities. They learned the self-discipline to keep working on distant goals.  They marketed themselves as someone who was great at what they did, which lead to better and better opportunities. And then suddenly, they burst onto the worldwide stage, fully formed from all of their hard work, and the rest of us call them lucky.

Luck lets the rest of us off the hook: if we are not great, it's because we are not lucky, not because we didn't prepare. However, I believe that we are all created for greatness, and that greatness will look different for every single person.

All of these nominees prepared for years and were ready when the opportunity came along to create something truly great. And now they are being recognized for it. Let's respect all of their hard work, dedication, vision and creativity by not calling them lucky.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca, first century philosoher
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