"It would be a lie to tell children that success comes only from effort."

(Dan Tri) - Recently, a quote by American actor Anthony Mackie has attracted attention. As a father of four children, Mackie believes that it would be a lie if parents taught their children that "success only comes from effort".

Over 10,000 hours of hard work that went unnoticed

Many parents often teach their children that they can achieve what they want if they study, work hard, and make persistent efforts. Parents rarely talk to their children about the element of luck, while this is an important factor. Many successful people admit that luck plays an important role in the level of success in their careers.

American actor Anthony Mackie (46 years old), the male lead of the movie Captain America: Brave New World , attracted attention when talking about the element of luck in a recent interview.

"I think it would be a lie if we told our children that success only comes from effort. We often tell our children that if they are good, study well, and work hard, they will achieve success. But in my opinion, that is not true, because it is not enough," actor Mackie shared in a high-profile interview.

Anthony Mackie argues that in some cases, success is given, not earned. In many other cases, success is due to an element of luck, not entirely to persistent effort.

After graduating from Juilliard in 2001, Mackie performed on stage and in low-budget arthouse films. However, he struggled to make his mark with the big boys in the Hollywood film industry.

Mackie estimates he put in more than 10,000 hours of patient labor before luck smiled on him and helped him land a life-changing role in the blockbuster superhero franchise Captain America .

Keep trying, but everyone needs luck.

Billionaire Mark Cuban (left) and billionaire Charlie Munger (right) have both emphasized the importance of luck (Photo: CNBC).

Actor Anthony Mackie is not the only celebrity to emphasize the importance of luck. American billionaire Charlie Munger (1924-2023) once shared with students at the University of Michigan (USA) in a 2018 talk about the element of luck.

"No matter how smart and talented you are, there is no guarantee of your future success. Luck must be considered in this," said Mr. Munger. "In my case, I did not set out to become rich. I just wanted to be financially independent. But in the end, luck helped me achieve more than I expected."

Similarly, in 2023, American billionaire Mark Cuban also shared with GQ magazine that any USD billionaire who says they can start from zero and still achieve impressive success is lying.

According to billionaire Cuban, to run a successful company and generate large profits, in today's rapidly developing technology context, business owners need both luck and timing.

Billionaire Cuban even said that if he had been born 3 years earlier, he probably would not have achieved the success he has today.

Simply put, being in the right place at the right time and having useful connections are just as important as skills and experience. These all depend to some extent on each person’s own luck factor.

How to get lucky?

Lucky people often have some common characteristics (Photo: iStock).

In fact, luck comes to everyone for a reason. Richard Wiseman, a British psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire, has studied the life course of people who benefited greatly from luck.

Wiseman found that these people often had some common traits, which he outlined in his book The Luck Factor:

- They are optimistic : Even when they are in bad situations, lucky people still feel grateful for their fate, because they understand that things can always turn out worse than what happened.

- They know how to seize new opportunities : Lucky people are also often open-minded and flexible to adapt well. This helps them build new relationships, create useful connections, and increase their chances of receiving positive support later.

- They listen to their intuition : Spending too much time thinking often leads to indecision. Lucky people tend to make decisions quite quickly. By trusting their intuition, they act decisively and quickly, thereby gaining access to many new opportunities.

- They quickly overcome failure : This helps them stay optimistic even when things don't go as expected. This optimistic, happy mentality helps them increase their chances of having good luck in the future.

Professor Wiseman said that practicing the above four psychological characteristics can help an individual have a better mindset and encounter better opportunities on the journey to turn goals into reality.

According to actor Anthony Mackie, the second and third traits have been especially helpful to him in his career. Mackie has officially become the new male lead of the Captain America series, replacing actor Chris Evans.

"When faced with a big opportunity, you immediately think about the possibility of failure. At first, I was also afraid of the big opportunity that opened up for me, but I didn't let fear stop me. I listened to my intuition and was determined to seize the opportunity," Mackie said.

According to CNBC