"The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get" Proverb Meaning, Origin & History | Poignant Proverbs
Channel: Poignant Proverbs
Date: 2021-08-12

0:00 - How to say “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
0:04 - Meaning of the proverb, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
1:47 - Advice from the proverb, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
3:59 - Proverbs related to the proverb, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
4:39 - Origin of the proverb, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”
5:09 - Conclusion

Transcript:

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

This proverb means that if you put your full effort into something, you will receive a lot of good fortune in relation to that endeavour.

In other words, if you work hard, put a lot of effort into a business, a project or learning a skill, you will have a lot of good luck, opportunity in relation to those efforts.

People often sit around and think, “I hope I get lucky” - in other words, they do nothing, but hope that someone comes along and gives them some good fortune.

You could perhaps call this a fatalistic point of view; perhaps you believe in fate and think that everything is predetermined and that everything is inevitable. You may believe that we can’t change the future, for better or for worse.

The proverb, “the harder you work, the luckier you get,” is definitely not fatalistic, however. This proverb tells you that in order to receive luck, you must work hard.

Even for something as far-fetched as winning the lottery, you must at least buy a ticket before you even have a shot at winning. Imagine someone hoping to get lucky with a lottery win, but not even buying a ticket?

The more lottery tickets you buy, the greater your chances of winning. However, it’s probably not a good idea to “work hard” at trying to win the lottery, because the chances of winning the grand prize are so miniscule that you could live several lifetimes without ever winning it!

Better yet, you should work hard at, dedicate yourself to something that you’re interested in. You perhaps don’t have to find your one true passion before you start to work hard, because often, we find our passion when we are working hard at something else.

For example, let’s say you love cooking and decide that you should work as a chef. Let’s assume that you choose to work hard, to do your best, to have a positive attitude.

There will be days when you absolutely hate your job, but as long as you remember that “attitude determines altitude”, and you look at every thing that annoys you as an opportunity to learn and to improve, then you will find that luck starts coming your way.

Eventually, you will get very good at cooking, identifying flavours, creating new dishes, mastering cooking techniques, knowing what customers love, giving good customer service, making contacts in the industry, etc.

Then, one day you save up enough money to open your own restaurant, or maybe one of your co-workers wants to start a new venture together, or perhaps a loyal customer has offered to invest in a restaurant that you start!

The “luck” of being able to open your own restaurant would have only been possible with the hard work you put in as a chef. The long days and late nights prepared you to take advantage of opportunities as they arose. You gained knowledge and experience, which brought you luck.

Indeed, the Roman philosopher, Seneca, is purported to have said, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

This is essentially exactly the same thing as the proverb, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Working hard is preparation and luck is simply opportunity that is recognized.

Related to Seneca’s words is a Taiwanese proverb, “Opportunity is reserved for those who have prepared.”

In other words, if an opportunity - or luck, as some would call it - comes along, only the prepared - those who have worked hard - are able to take advantage of it, or more likely, are able to see it as an opportunity!

After all, if you don’t work hard at something, don’t build up an expertise and experience with it, a huge opportunity could be staring you in the face, but you wouldn’t know it.

The origin of this proverb can be traced back to American author, Coleman Cox, during the early 1900s: “I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work the more luck I seem to have.”

Coleman Cox was a well-known writer in his time, whose books of smart one-liners (a.k.a. proverbs) were often given by businesses to their salespeople.

So, the next time you come across someone hoping and wishing for luck, but not lifting a finger, just let them know, “the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

#poignantproverbs #proverbs #wisdom

References: https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-harder-you-work-the-luckier-you-get-really-mean

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/21/luck-hard-work/

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/cox-coleman/signed/