Success only happens when luck, talent, and hard work combine.

Luck

Luck is not about having good odds in roulette or hitting all green lights on the way to work.

There are a lot of factors of success that are not up to an individual. Luck is about not getting cancer that gets in the way of your career and kills you at 25.

Luck is being born in a country where it’s possible to be happy. Someone who stays healthy enough to work is lucky. Someone who doesn’t get blown up on the way to work is even luckier.

Talent

Talent exists. Some people are better at learning than other people.

I remember practicing about 2-4 hours a day from when I was 10 to about 21. I went to a music camp with people who practiced as much as I did, but knew more repertoire and played it far better than I could.

I also know a producer who, after four years, got around 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and offers to play EDC. It took me a year to make a track.

It also took me four years to learn how to read sheet music. Now, I sight read professionally, but those were a tough four years.

People with talent will get farther than other people. And, they can do it with less work, but only if they commit to it.

Those pianists at the music camp aren’t getting paid as much as I am, and the producer who got to play EDC isn’t making music these days. So, like the other aspects, talent isn’t everything. It’s absurd to say talent doesn’t exit, though.

Hard Work

Finally, there’s hard work. Obvious, right? But what I’m about to say isn’t as trite as the millions of writers out there lauding hard work.

There’s a hard work fetish in this country. We believe we can accomplish anything with enough time. We believe talent doesn’t exist, and only losers in casinos pray to lady luck.

It’s just not the case. Hard work is necessary, but it won’t get anywhere without luck or talent.

You need luck to get in front of the right people at the right time. You need talent to go farther than people who work harder than you. And, you need hard work to persevere through the slow periods.

Failure

I haven’t encountered many failures in my career. I usually meet people who hit a hard wall and simply can’t grow anymore. Maybe it’s up to them. Usually, they’re missing some talent, hard work, or luck.

You simply have to have all three.