I find it particularly disheartening when I hear someone refer to a person's success and achievements as simply luck. Or even worse... dumb luck.

The word luck implies that the person had very little to do with the positive outcome they are currently enjoying. In fact, it even conjures up the idea that someone that is enjoying their success could have as easily achieved the result from doing something as simple as going to the local store and purchasing a lottery ticket and hoping for the best.

The reality is that "luck" in and of itself in virtually all the cases of those where one might define a person as being successful had little if anything to do with it. Very often, the exact opposite is true.

One can easily find countless examples where the ingredients of being action oriented, and persistent had much more to do with the attainment and rewards these people are enjoying.