Success is aligning at a crossroad and acting...
"The world is for those who realise it's potential"
I believe that for most highly successful individuals, success was less about genius or relentless hard work and more about talented individuals finding themselves at a crossroad of opportunity.
History shows this repeatedly. Moments of technological change, market shifts, or structural resets create brief windows where the rules are rewritten, presented to a capable person who recognize the moment and help themselves.
Hard work still matters, but mostly after the luck has knocked on the door. Effort determines how far someone goes once they are in the game.
This is also why success often looks inevitable in hindsight. We romanticize grind and talent while underplaying timing, access, and early positioning. Survivorship bias makes success stories feel linear, even though they rarely are.
It reminds me of what many bowlers say about taking wickets in cricket. Skill and execution matter, but only up to a point. The rest depends on things outside their control. Does the edge carry or fall short? Is the catch held or dropped? How does the pitch behave?
Success, much like a wicket, is rarely earned by effort alone.