I had only recently concluded work on the manuscript of his groundbreaking book. He is one of the most prodigiously successful hedge fund managers in the United States, and one whose exploits on the rarefied turf of high finance are the stuff of which legends are made.

“Sir, permit me to offer a sincere word of congratulations on the release of your book, “King of Hedge Capital,” by HarperCollins. Without doubt, you must feel as tremendously fulfilled as you must simply marvel at the astonishing run of good luck you have had over the past decade.”

My client, credited with possessing one of the finest financial minds on Earth, stared at me for fully half a minute before responding. When he did, it was in a very somber and grave tone. 

“Doctor,” he started, “Phenomenally successful people, a club to which you imply I arguably belong, are not lucky people. They simply possess the wisdom to subscribe to certain laws of nature; laws which are ever so precise, and which continue to work in their favor all the time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, nonplussed. 

“The generality must be forgiven for subscribing to the notion that luck plays a prominent role in our affairs. That is because their own perception of the concept of luck is amusingly mediocre at best, and tragically fatal at worst. Peak performing individuals, on the other hand, subscribe to the noble precept that luck is merely the meeting point of mortal effort at arduous preparation, and the opportunity that can justify all that effort.”

He paused to take a sip of his ginseng tea. 

“Furthermore,” the man continued, “the widely-held concept of luck is merely a self-serving platitude that leaves us, in one instance, at the mercy of the capricious nature of fate, and in another instance, at the mercy of a fatally self-defeatist inclination to seek a convenient explanation for our own failure to accomplish set goals, assuming we even had any in the first place. You see, my esteemed friend, there is meticulous order to all our affairs. It is only because there is often a long interval between an action and its result that we are generally inclined to forget the cause and concern ourselves only with the effect. That is why we talk with such glib ease about luck. Yet, we will always reap what we sow. High achievers are those who unearth principles, and observe details, that others blissfully gloss over. Such people are considered lucky, while in fact, all they do is apply laws that are really quite precise. We must refuse to expect an easy path to success. Instead, we should anticipate the challenging but rewarding highway to the top.”

Yomi Garnett MD