Week 4 - Skill, Character, or Luck?

This week I have thought a lot about what it takes to be successful and what things I need to develop in myself. I think that Skill, Character, and Luck all have some part in success, but here is how I would personally rank them and why... #1 Character. This is the idea that you can teach someone how to do something, but you can not change who they are. I think that character is partially something that a person is born with, and partially comes from the experiences of life that the have had and that have shaped them. Character really is who you are, not what you know. You can accomplish a lot if you have strong character and are willing to do what it takes and continue to try and try again. Character is made of things like Determination and Honesty. #2 Skill. The things you know how to do and are able to do well are the skills that you have. Some of these can come naturally as gifts of character, but skills can also be learned. That is why I think skills are important. Anything in the world that you take and interest in and want to learn about, you then have the potential to learn that skill. You may or may not be good at it naturally, but there are many things you can do to strengthen your skills and learning. #3 Luck. By luck I mean the particular circumstances around you that help or harm your chances of success in any particular area. I think that luck has some weight to it, but I do not think it will make or break your success on its own. After all, if you run into some circumstances that are not good for what you are trying to accomplish, maybe you try a different area or different crowd, or different approach. Usually people that "luck" into success loose it pretty fast. That is not truly success to me. I think success is something that you work for and that you build over time.