Is success down to luck or hard work? Big Money Questions

We slog away at something, put in the hours, get up early and stay up late – and then finally we achieve what we’ve been working towards.

Knowing this, it can be easy to think that our successes are down to our own hard work.

But don’t be so sure.

Behind all big successes, there will be a turn of events without which we might never have achieved our desired outcome.

So says Robert H Frank, Professor of Economics at Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management in New York.

Although, he says, it may not be something that successful people want to hear, it is highly plausible that a few episodes or circumstances beyond their control helped them get to where they are today.

In the second episode of the Big Money Questions, Professor Frank talks presenter Rachel Rickard Straus through the findings of his new book on the subject: Success and Luck – Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy.

He shares his advice on how we can change the way we think about luck to make ourselves happier, spend less – and even help us to build new roads and railways.