"Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth," is a rather common phrase from the bible. From young, we are fed with the belief that the only way to attain success is through hard work. As our society sees it, success is often referred to as fulfilling most of one's wishes. However, my view is that hard work does not necessarily guarantee success.
Hard work definitely gives one an edge over the others, but to only a certain extent. It has been proven long ago that it takes an individual to invest 10'000 hours in any given activity in order to master their skills in it. For instance, famous musicians from the past centuries including Mozart and Beethoven are said to have spent most of their childhood and teenage days on the piano. Therefore it is true that hard work, in this case, practicing on the piano have given them an edge over the others in that field, allowing them to shine. However, according to the same theory, after mastering the given activity, any further investment in time would not make a significant improvement to his skills. Thus, as J. Gupta had mentioned before, "Hard work doesn't guarantee success, but improves its chances." 
There are many other factors that affect whether a person attain success in his life time or not. Firstly, the mindset that a person holds affects his chance at success. He has to have a positive outlook to life and should be equipped with characteristics such as perseverance. That would indeed allow him to lift himself up when he falls and not give up. This is because success does not usually occur for most people at the very first try. For example, Thomas Edison experimented on his light bulb about a thousand times before he finally managed to get it to work. He was not disheartened by the failure of the bulb but rather took it as an opportunity to work on his design and improve it. Therefore, having the right mindset allows a person to become successful.
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