ESSAY 1 Diligence is the mother of good luck PAPER 4

Luck plays a vital role and exerts a dramatic influence in all aspects of our
lives. Throughout history, people have recognised that good and bad luck can
transform lives. Luck has the power to transform the impossible into the
possible, to make the difference between life and death, reward and ruin,
happiness and despair. A few seconds of ill fortune can lay wasted years of
striving, and moments of good luck can save an enormous amount of hard
work. Hence, for many centuries people have searched for ways to improve the
luck in their lives. In virtually all civilisations, people superstitiously believe in
lucky charms, amulets, and talismans. Research shows that, to a large extent,
people make their own good and bad fortune. Further, it is possible to enhance
the amount of luck that people encounter in their lives. This supports people's
notion that people reached great heights thanks to their firm belief in their
abilities, inquisitiveness, curiosity, constant effort and perseverance. This is
testimony of the adage that 'diligence is the mother of good luck'. Man's worth
is only determined by his actions. Blaming bad luck for one's personal
misfortunes and failure is nothing but a lame excuse. It is indeed baseless and
unjustified. In essence, we are ihc architects of our own fate and luck favours
those who work hard.

We determine the amount and type of luck we want. In fact, we are the
architects of our own fate. Good luck does not come free. It does not fall from
the sky. Mere brooding, haughty words and hollow promises do not bring good
luck either. Sheer diligence is the mother of good luck. It is a universal truth
that hard work and only hard work determines our success. There is no other
secret of success. The proverbs like 'No pains, no gains', 'No sweat, no sweet',
'Work and thou shalt have', 'It is better to bear out than rust out', 'God helps
those who help themselves', embody a truth which few will feel disposed to
dispute. We generate our own good fortune by creating and noticing chance
opportunities, making lucky decisions through their intuition, creating self-
fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopting a resilient attitude
that transforms bad luck into good. This speaks volumes of the significance of
diligence as the best means of generating good luck in our lives.

Moreover, luck favours those who work hard. The harder we work, the
more luck we have. By sheer hard work, we can make luck favour us more and
more. Diligence is therefore the mother of good luck. The harmonious blend of
both always brings astonishing results. Cursing our luck for our failure to get
our desired goals is unjust. We are to be blamed if we failed to succeed. No
man of merit and diligence is neglected. No meritorious and hardworking man
remains unsatisfied and unrewarded. The Holy Quran says, "Man gets what he
strives for". By working hard, we feel much better about our lives and
ourselves. It improves our self esteem and motivates us to work harder. This, in
turn, helps keep our expectations about the future high, and, increases the
likelihood of us continuing to live a lucky life. In essence, much of the good and
bad fortune we encounter is a result of our thoughts and behaviour. It also
requires effort to increase the amount of good luck that we encounter in our
lives.

To conclude, diligence, hard work, dedication, sincerity, commitment and