Why Luck Matters Much More Than You Think By Robert H. Frank

One of the many things that I learned during our discussions during these past 3 weeks was the thought about how luck plays a much more important role in life then I thought previously, and how the perception of how people came to be successful, affects how they use their wealth for the good of others. The main argument brought up by Robert H. Frank, in his article Why Luck Matters Much More Than You Think, is that it is not just hard work that helps people gain success in life, but luck actually plays a much more important role in helping people succeed than most people believe. Frank then believes that based off of your perception that you are successful from luck or hard work, also affects how willing your are to use your wealth to help other people.
The type of mindset I had before reading this article and having our discussion was that the only way to become successful in life was to work hard. This notion of me believing hard work leading to success has mostly come from the mindset of athletes. In Frank’s article he states “Wealthy people overwhelmingly attribute their own success to hard work rather than to factors like luck or

Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest professional hockey player of all time once stated, “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day” This quote is not just stating that he works hard, yet what Gretzky is saying is that his success comes from working hard and he is proud to be a hard worker, who is also successful. This quote by Gretzky, and listening to interviews of many other athletes describing their success being due to their hard work is why, prior to reading this article and having the discussion in class, I solely believed that success came from hard