We’ve all heard it: “Hard work is the key to success.” And yes, there’s truth in it. But as I’ve grown and lived through different seasons of life, I’ve come to realize that hard work alone is not always enough. In fact, it often needs to meet three other powerful elements luck, connection, and timing to truly open the doors to success.
Let me tell you a story.
Back in 2019, I had a friend named Kwame. A passionate tech guy. He had no degree in computer science but had taught himself to code by watching YouTube videos and reading online tutorials. Every day, he’d work on personal projects, contribute to open-source platforms, and help small businesses build websites just to gain experience.
He applied to jobs everywhere Nigeria, Lagos, even remote positions in Nigeria. But all he received were rejection emails, if he even got a response at all. He was hardworking, consistent, and extremely talented but he was invisible to the people who could give him a chance.
Then something changed.
One Saturday, I convinced him to attend a small tech meetup in Osun. He didn’t want to go said it wouldn’t lead to anything but eventually tagged along. At the event, he got into a casual conversation with a guy sitting next to him. They talked about everything from food to fintech. Turns out, that guy was a product lead at a fast-growing startup.
Three weeks later, after a few chats and code reviews, Kwame landed a full-time job with benefits doing the very thing he had been working toward for years.
What changed? Not his skill. Not his work ethic. What changed was the room he walked into, the person he met, and the timing of that encounter.
That story has stayed with me.
We need to start telling the whole truth. Hard work is critical it builds our skills, our discipline, and our identity. But it often needs to collide with the right opportunity, the right person, or a random stroke of luck to truly pay off.
In Nigeria, we’ve seen many brilliant people go unnoticed simply because they don’t have the right network. And we’ve also seen people with average skill sets go far because they had the right connection or walked into the right room at the right time.
So what does this mean for you and me?
Keep working hard. That’s your foundation. But also: put yourself out there. Show up to events. Start conversations. Build real relationships. Share your work publicly. Because your breakthrough may not always come from more hustle sometimes, it comes from being seen.
Hard work is necessary. But sometimes, it just needs a little help from luck, timing, and the right connection to truly succeed.
