(As with yesterday’s noodling post about careers, this is largely a thinking-out-loud sort of deal, brought on by a need to write something that isn’t a carefully worded administrative email, because it’s been a terrible week full of those…)

Looking back at yesterday’s reflection on the randomness of my working life, I’m reminded of the tricky balance that has to be struck with these things between acknowledging the role of luck and the role of hard work. That post may have tipped a bit too far toward the “it’s all random” side of things, because it was a near-stream-of-consciousness thing and that was the mood of the moment.

While luck has played an essential role in my career to date, though, I feel like I might’ve downplayed the amount of work I put into getting where I am. Because there was a lot of that, too– I got the opportunity to go to grad school in large part because of a fortunate connection between my undergraduate professors and my eventual research group, but they kept me around and gave me a degree because I got stuff done. I got an interview for my current job in large part due to another connection, but in the end I got the job because I killed it when I gave my job talk. I got an agent because of a freak viral moment for a silly blog post, but I’ve published four books because I worked my ass off writing good proposals and good books.

And, like I say, it’s a tricky balance to strike, particularly when giving advice, because it’s unquestionably true that I’ve had doors open for me simply because I was in the right place at the right time and knew the right people. But that enormous good fortune and privilege isn’t close to the whole story– those got me opportunities to do stuff, but taking advantage of those required committing to getting that stuff done. And I have certainly seen people who were provided similar sorts of opportunities who just didn’t take advantage and get the stuff done that needed doing.

I got asked not long ago for a favorite motivational quote, and I went with Michael Faraday’s advice on the secret of success in science: “Work. Finish. Publish.” I’ve written about this before, but that’s a quote that sticks with me. I think it’d be fair to add “Get Lucky” as an item on that list (whether fourth or zeroth, I’m not sure), but then again, Faraday’s advice covers everything you have any hope of controlling. You can’t make luck, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. But you can commit to working until you’re finished; in fact, that’s the only thing you can do.