The Uncomfortable Truth About High Earners and Luck
I’ve been mulling over a discussion I stumbled across recently about people earning $300-500k+ annually. The original question was simple enough: what do these high earners actually do, and do they feel lucky or just like they’re doing $300k worth of work? What followed was one of the most honest conversations I’ve seen about success, privilege, and the role of luck in our careers.
The response that really stuck with me came from someone earning in that bracket who laid it all out: “Luck, timing and working hard.” They went on to acknowledge their good health, supportive family, lack of major misfortunes, being in the right place at the right time with the right boss, and marrying well. Most importantly, they recognised that while they work hard, “a lot of people work hard and they don’t earn that sort of money.”
This level of self-awareness is refreshingly rare. Too often, we’re fed the bootstrap narrative - work hard enough and you’ll succeed. It’s a comforting myth because it suggests we’re in complete control of our destiny. But it’s also a dangerous one because it implies that those who don’t achieve financial success simply aren’t trying hard enough.
The reality is far messier. I’ve watched incredibly talented people in my IT career get passed over for promotions while less capable colleagues advance simply because they had better visibility with management. I’ve seen brilliant developers struggle because they were born without the social skills that come naturally to others, or because they’re supporting elderly parents and can’t take the career risks that might propel them forward.
One comment particularly resonated with me: “It’s not a matter of how well you do your job but a matter of how many important people know you do your job well.” This hits at something we don’t like to admit - that proximity bias and office politics often matter more than pure competence. It’s frustrating, but acknowledging this reality is the first step to navigating it effectively.
The discussion also highlighted how much our earning potential is shaped by factors completely outside our control. Being born in Australia already puts us ahead of most of the world. Having parents who could support us through university, growing up in a stable household, not having chronic health issues or neurodivergent traits that make corporate environments challenging - these aren’t achievements, they’re lottery tickets we either won or didn’t.
Even the industries we end up in often come down to chance encounters or family connections. Someone mentioned that B2B tech pays exponentially better than hairdressing - not because one requires more skill or creates more value for society, but because the economic structures are fundamentally different. A hairdresser might work twice as hard as a software salesperson but earn a fraction of the income.
What frustrated me most about some responses was the defensiveness. Several people seemed threatened by the suggestion that luck plays a role in success, as if acknowledging external factors somehow diminishes their achievements. But recognising privilege doesn’t invalidate hard work - it just provides important context.
The most thoughtful contributors understood this nuance. They acknowledged working hard while simultaneously recognising their advantages. One mentioned being grateful for not experiencing “bad luck” - losing a job only to find a better-paying one two weeks later with a competitor. Sometimes success is just the absence of the setbacks that derail others.
This isn’t about diminishing anyone’s accomplishments or suggesting that effort doesn’t matter. Hard work absolutely increases your odds of success. But pretending that’s the only factor creates a cruel fiction that blames people for circumstances often beyond their control.
The conversation reminded me why I appreciate living in a country with strong social safety nets and progressive taxation. When success is significantly influenced by luck, it makes sense that those who benefit most from society’s structures contribute proportionally more back to the system that enabled their success.
Perhaps the most valuable takeaway was the advice about building overlapping skills in areas others avoid - becoming very good at combining rare, useful abilities rather than trying to be world-class at one thing. That feels like practical wisdom that acknowledges both the importance of effort and the reality that positioning and opportunity matter enormously.
Ultimately, I think the high earners who acknowledge their luck are probably the ones best equipped to maintain their success. They understand that circumstances can change, that relationships matter as much as competence, and that a bit of humility goes a long way. More importantly, they’re likely to support policies and practices that give others better chances at similar opportunities.
The uncomfortable truth is that we’re all products of forces largely beyond our control, mixed with the choices we make within those constraints. Recognising this doesn’t make success meaningless - it makes it more precious and creates a responsibility to help others navigate their own path forward.