Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.
Chance plays a far bigger role in life than we’re willing to admit, says psychologist Barry Schwartz. Of course, working hard and following the rules can get you far — but the rest could boil down to simple good fortune. Schwartz examines the overlooked link between luck, merit and success, offering an intriguing solution to equalize opportunity — starting with college admissions.
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.
TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at
Catchy Experiments
October 7, 2020 at 11:42 pm
RANDOM FACT: In Australia, there are nearly twice the amount of kangaroos as there are humans. 😎
craig me
October 7, 2020 at 11:45 pm
If college entry was a lottery, who would bother trying.
Life is a lottery. Most people dont bother trying – thats the sad thing.
TheNomadLens
October 7, 2020 at 11:47 pm
This is hands down the greatest video.
Kimberly Anne Figueroa
October 7, 2020 at 11:51 pm
Remember that sometimes people think that someone is lucky is because they usually grab the opportunities given to them then they learn to do it later. And also he is amazing and filled with love too. That’s probably what made him to keep on going ♥️>°_°>
The Warden
October 7, 2020 at 11:51 pm
I don’t really agree with this take.
I think life is ruled by chaos. The only thing we can do is to create order from chaos, even though we have to accept that sometimes life cannot be under our control, therefore under the rules of order. So, it is what it is. I’ll fight for a better future, but i’ll also accept that I cannot control everything. But that doesn’t mean i’ll stop fighting.
rajesh mithun
October 7, 2020 at 11:58 pm
Without luck, it is unlikely we succeed.
Clement Tan
October 7, 2020 at 11:59 pm
This was awesome, thanks barry
Ela Figura
October 8, 2020 at 12:00 am
I agree that more and more kids today get depression and anxiety because of such high expectations. Social media also contributes to this and it’s both alarming and sad.
Baddy Gonzales
October 8, 2020 at 12:10 am
Awesome!!! Thank you 👏🖤
Francisco C
October 8, 2020 at 12:14 am
OR we can just accept everyone into college. stream the classes online and let everyone take the class virtually . tuition should be free as well. giving everyone an equal chance.
Caren Ami
October 8, 2020 at 12:15 am
Lottery had already been used decades ago in the admission system at German universities.
Mutant Buzzard
October 8, 2020 at 12:15 am
You are confusing “luck” with “blessed”.
jacobawojtowicz
October 8, 2020 at 12:16 am
“College admissions…some people get what they deserve and some people dont”
Coming from a white male that went to college BEFORE minority quotas were around
11STARFIRE
October 8, 2020 at 12:16 am
What was not mentioned in this Ted Talk was opportunity.
**I don’t get too much Luck. Simple as that**
M J
October 8, 2020 at 12:21 am
Try to do every possible thing to achieve what you want and my friend you just raise your odds of good luck😇✌🏻💃🕺
branden
October 8, 2020 at 12:27 am
That’s the hard truth of life ,like it or not .
Jade Choi - Million Dollar Challenge
October 8, 2020 at 12:35 am
Who else smashed that like button?👍
D
October 8, 2020 at 12:42 am
Ok sorry, but the world owes you nothing. This way of thinking is dangerous because if you simply deem yourself as unlucky you cannot and will not take responsibility for your actions
M J
October 8, 2020 at 12:43 am
Like not wearing seatbelts you just raised your odds of being lucky😜
Not washing hands, keeping distance, not wearing mask 😷 you just asking for Lady Luck😷
Keep playing 24/7 with your dozens of f1re@rms 🤔 you just asked for Luck strike😎
Keep drinking, smoking and using derugs 🥳 you just asked for luck🤒
Keep getting into destructive situations 👻 you just asked for goodluck☠️
Keep attracting towards badboys/badgirls 💃🕺 you just created your own luck😈
Xiaojun Li
October 8, 2020 at 1:00 am
I can’t agree what he said. Education system is the only system I’ve seen that provide people the most fairness, compared to political, financial, or immigration systems, etc.
Robert Grant
October 8, 2020 at 1:02 am
Good points, but I highly diagree with the lottery system. That would likely produce more anxiety
kanariya84
October 8, 2020 at 1:04 am
Great to see you Professor Schwartz!!
victorn619
October 8, 2020 at 1:10 am
Is there any way this can be uploaded to TED’s instagram page IGTV?
logr
October 8, 2020 at 1:11 am
Good scholars are not nesesarly good creative minds.
Many good companies making technical tests during interviews that have nothing in common with problems need to be solved during research and development.
The whole system built by square minds to choose employees think the same way.
This is the main reason the science of today is statistical researches without real breakthroughs since the first half of 20th century.
Boring… 👎
Kirstin Strand
October 8, 2020 at 1:28 am
We live in a simulated reality; we are all here by choice. What does each of us need to learn? We are a collective society, each with our own “REALITY.” Before we can get to the next level, we must conquer where we are NOW. GOOD LUCK!
Fisheye-agent
October 8, 2020 at 7:28 pm
“There’s no justice , just Us ”
– DEATH
Discworld – Terry Pratchett
Million Roots
October 8, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Yes and no, there is the such a thing as a LAW OF KARMA – every action must have a reaction.
so its not only a luck but what person you are for yourself and others in this or previous lifes.
this is what they say 🙂
kanalm
October 8, 2020 at 8:27 pm
I found this well intended lecture of Barry Schwartz to be utterly mediocre and disappointing, as it resonates (to me) a position based not on facilitating the broadest achievable path for growth, nor a vector for the overall wellbeing of society as a synergetic evolving entity that would most naturally be tiered by intelligent competence and spiritual stature; rather it would seem that his foundation is his subconsciously driven sense of psychological guilt about his percieved “good fortune” relative to other’s “less good fortune”. Furthermore the very notion that anyone ultimately ‘deserves’ anything at all, including being alive in the first place, is from my perspective fundamentally misguided. That being my position, there can be no equation of ‘deserving’ because ‘deserving’ is meaningless in the broad scheme of things. Merit (which is a related concept, but not of synonomous connotation) surely Does exist, however its role in the grand plan is quite limited and vectored by some inaccessible karmic law/design that is cosmically arbitrary (relative to our limited awareness), and not objectively assignable through any synthetic and temporary set of human-arbitrated merit-measuring priorities.
Had he for example rather focused on mentoring that every one of us IS, relative to devine plan, objectively fortunate, and is typically presented with countless opportunities to leave one’s initial training and choose with whom to interact, how to express themselves, as well as contribute to society, that might have been a more inspiring lecture. Most people seem typically unaware of their fortune for having the very opportunity to be alive and witness (not to mention participate) in the mystery of life. From my perspective, and despite having experienced profound grief, gratitude which is founded on acknowledgement of our conscious existence has nothing to do with justice, nor morality, it is (as I perceive it) an Imperitive and Prime Directive of True Intelligence; I myself don’t happen to be of religious conviction.
I’m personally inspired by the likes of a woman who lives in my neighborhood, she is quadraplegic as well as supported (via tracheostomy) by a breathing machine and can’t even scratch her own nose, nevertheless she is clearly far more fulfilled happy and evolved (as I intuit from the presenter’s words and body language) than Mr. Schwartz; I consider myself fortunate for knowing her and having the choice to interact with her. Justice, luck, and who-deserves-what – play absolutely no role in her life.
To me it’s all about choice, who and what we engage, and the recognition that having choice as conscious beings Is Itself the most fortunate manifestation imaginable.
The Imperfect Scrapper
October 8, 2020 at 8:40 pm
Great TED talk
MrDemultiplexer
October 8, 2020 at 8:55 pm
I was lucky to watch this video, it’s awesome!
Regan Parenton
October 8, 2020 at 10:14 pm
I just vlogged about how blessed I am too.
Sarah Hardy
October 8, 2020 at 10:45 pm
Luck? Not a lot. Anti-luck, I have in spades.
AYA
October 9, 2020 at 1:08 am
His life life is full of luck looka mine 🤦🏻♀️
subhabrata das
October 9, 2020 at 4:33 am
SAT was fair for admissions all these years till the Asians started to outperform everyone. This is how racism hides behind intellectual discourses.
Rick Dijkstra
October 9, 2020 at 4:36 am
Wait she’s black she’s in 100%
Rick Dijkstra
October 9, 2020 at 4:40 am
We already had the lottery. When your born you could be luck to be born in a good/rich family, a certain race, certain genetics(height, body type), etc.
kalpesh bhujbal
October 9, 2020 at 6:09 am
Here’s what Neil degrasse tyson says about luck! You gotta watch this.
P e r s o n a
October 9, 2020 at 6:21 am
Life is unjust
Get used to it
And move on.
AlexScorpionVn
October 9, 2020 at 8:36 am
After 5 min in I call bison crap. Lottery: work hard and you may or may not get results. Totally demotivating.
Let me watch the rest.
He is still wrong.
Reclining Buddha
October 9, 2020 at 9:54 am
*There is no such thing as luck. Luck is just a term for a result for which the cause is unknown.*
The law of kamma insures that everyone gets what they deserve. However, kamma is not fatalism. Volitional actions done in this very life are also kamma. If one does not get into college or get a job in spite of having adequate qualifications, then kamma done in previous lives may be the reason. If one faces discrimination, and fails to get what one “deserves” in this life, it may be because one unfairly discriminated against others in a previous life, and that kamma gets a chance to bear fruit in this very life. Whether one regards something as “good luck” or “bad luck” depends on one’s attitude: is the glass half-full or half-empty? Being married to the same person for fifty years might be a prison sentence for some, but a great blessing for others. Being single may be very lonely for some, while being a great blessing for others.
Saman Arooj
October 9, 2020 at 10:31 am
Riski Norita Sari
October 9, 2020 at 11:50 am
I really believe him. I experienced how lucky I am. However, the lucky I believe is the dream that we imagine before. If we haven’t imagine something so we haven’t met the lucky. Thus, dream before you do something is one of way to meet lucky. In addition, you have to ask to your God to meet lucky. That’s the most important thing.
Harvey YFBY
October 9, 2020 at 11:56 am
Heh!
Greg Ferguson
October 9, 2020 at 12:02 pm
Karma [observing from the background]: “You’re getting closer….”
Sudheendra
October 9, 2020 at 2:10 pm
I think luck is not random! Luck is what we create, by focusing what we do right now, The Present! and if we can not make it we blame fate! Well certainly not if you have worked at the point in present,You Must meet your Luck! By the way GOD is the one who can bring Miracles over luck
iDesign
October 9, 2020 at 3:32 pm
Also, you were very very lucky to be born in the United States of America, you were lucky to be born as native English language, you were lucky to be born at all and as the first step 🙂 🙂
Luke Soule
October 9, 2020 at 4:13 pm
We’re quite lucky to have Barry Schwartz exist. Excellent talk
Caylan Wojciechowski
October 9, 2020 at 10:02 pm
If I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck. Ha.
M Smith
October 10, 2020 at 12:06 am
TRUSTING a LOTTERY to eliminate decisions is NOT an ANSWER, only ducking choices!
Not sure I would want him to teach my child! To imagine LUCK as the decider is FOLLY! AND some college reputations are also imaginary! Learning is lifelong, not just years at college!
Helen Sun
October 10, 2020 at 12:34 am
Yup!
shree kumar
October 10, 2020 at 3:15 am
A generation that created the problem now recognizes that its a problem and now giving solution to a problem that should not be a problem in the first place.
mgandulfo
October 10, 2020 at 3:20 am
In summary, the problem is we don’t have enough “good” opportunities for everyone, which strikes me as a big irony in a world that needs fixing more than ever before. It’s not as if all our problems have been solved!
To me the problem is there are not enough meaningful jobs that pay enough for people to want to work there without feeling that they’ve got to relegate more than they would like to. And I think this has got to do with how we, as a society, value each type of work. When that changes, I think we will find out that there are more meaningful jobs that people in the world.
observer7418
October 10, 2020 at 4:17 am
And it’s counterpart irony 😉 I am an artist. I randomly almost got famous several times. The first time, a socialite from Long Island bought my whole inventory. She was opening a gallery on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach FL. and told me the Lauder’s (as in Este’ and MOMA) loved my work and wanted to see more. She told me “in a year you won’t even remember being a starving artist. We’ll get you a studio in NY and I’ll introduce you to all the right people, yada yada yada”
Well, when I delivered the new paintings a few months later I had all sorts of agreements and such thinking I needed to protect myself with, which she was almost offended by but my work as already hung and I figured, yes, she is ripping me off. In hind sight I should have let her sell all the work because when she ran out she would need more and then the cards would be in my hands. (I was naïve but I learned something) Anyway, here’s the irony and the luck again. I looked through the Washington DC Yellow Pages for an art lawyer and randomly picked one of the top dog art lawyers in the country who advised me to “just tell her I said to send the work back”. I got my work back in a week. I sure would love to know what that studio would have been like but I find it incredibly interesting how luck, randomness, and irony work to make experience what it is. My stupidity not withstanding.
L.W. Paradis
October 10, 2020 at 5:51 am
Of course luck is a huge part of life. Don’t people know anyone hit by a drunk driver? Or anyone who had pediatric cancer? Medical malpractice? Crippling depression? A parent who commits suicide? Or who died of COVID in spite of taking all precautions? The wisest people always acknowledge the role of luck, and understand its gravity. This was a great talk.
Floopy-Noopers
October 10, 2020 at 6:00 am
strange guy
All The Honeys
October 10, 2020 at 7:27 am
I recently discussed the role of luck in our lives with my partner, after watching a very self-congratulatory business person talk about their journey. Luck plays an immense role, no matter what area of life, and recognising that makes one more humble.
Kevin A.
October 10, 2020 at 8:09 am
I love this holistic point of view. I’ll definitely keep this in mind as I apply for colleges this year.
kulsum Sheikh
October 10, 2020 at 8:26 am
As a high school student from India hoping to get into my preferable university
I can totally relate to this
It’s kinda emotional also cuz nowadays almost every student dealing with this
Thanks for this Tedtalk 🙌🏻
L.W. Paradis
October 10, 2020 at 9:11 am
How are so many people missing the point?
It’s simple. Let’s say you get a minimum wage job. Great! No problem: you work X hours, you must be paid for X hours, under the Fair Labor Standards Act. You are protected by law. You WILL get what you deserve for sure, based on your work.
But you have higher aspirations. You work very, very hard, and become truly outstanding at what you do. But does that mean you’ll be admitted to school, or that you’ll get the job? *No.* There are 100 applicants like you, for fewer than ten seats, and at least 20 or 30 of these applicants are as outstanding as you are, and possibly a little more.
No one is suggesting hard work is not essential. It is all the more essential. But it is “no guarantee.” That was the point. More than that: a society where larger and larger numbers of deserving people get less and less is not going to work out, yo.
Mukhtar Gafar
October 10, 2020 at 9:33 am
I rather be lucky than good
Mathinus Wolters
October 10, 2020 at 11:27 am
It might have been luck to get all those things in life, all those opportunities, but it is your own hard work and dedication that allows you to stay with those things.
Everyone can meet a special person and fall in love, but maintaining and thriving in a relationship is because of both people putting in the effort.
Luck may be an important factor, but life is influenced by your own choice and how you choose to situations.
Always remember that, this is how poor people get rich, and rich can go poor.
cp1307
October 10, 2020 at 11:58 am
People worship “successful” people, not because they are capable or deserving, but because they enjoy good life, defined by hard success – (money, power, beauty). This hard success serves the most basic innate desire of humans- survival and procreation.
Most of us would rather choose an undeserving good life over deserving but bad life.
Thats the harsh truth.
Steven
October 10, 2020 at 2:05 pm
Lottery sounds great to you and me, but college wants the ones who are able to pay.
Steven
October 10, 2020 at 2:08 pm
You should play the lottery ♾
GENERAL HELP
October 10, 2020 at 3:28 pm
Wow he has an Obama book🤩
Max Kelevra
October 10, 2020 at 5:15 pm
God damn I love this man, thank you Ted
SkatingErinsMom
October 10, 2020 at 8:01 pm
Interesting read on this topic: “Heads I Win, Tails It’s Chance, the Illusion of Control” Langer 1975
99ljs
October 10, 2020 at 9:47 pm
Oh give me a break with “climate change” do any of you idiots ever read about what went on in the past & see this is nature not anything else. You are all so stupid and this Pope is a joke to the Catholic faith. We all hate him
eric oneill
October 10, 2020 at 9:54 pm
You will never have inner peace if you fret and worry about such things. It requires belief in God to deal with the apparent unfairness and meaninglessness (even worse than unfairness!) of life. “Crucify the flesh and live in the spirit”. Practice charity. Be content with shelter and basic food. Run away from money,politely endure rude and officious people and do not expect anything but an early grave.I believe everything is predestined and we just put in our time. It is better to have a simple life than a complicated one dealing with myriads of hostile people.
Marta Nika
October 10, 2020 at 11:13 pm
discouraging world we live in that makes people to not believe in a positive world . it don’t matter if one is lucky gifted smart as a whip with what is going on in the world today with how our country is falling apart and so many people are suffering due to it all it is hard to be positive and know that there will be a positive future a tomorrow .
i was one who always was positive and want to believe in good instead of evil but when i look around in the world i see hate pain suffering hurt by what has gone on with bad people in our government office and bad democrats and people in general it is hard to think positive and i am one who feels the future outcome will not be so bright and positive and that has now caused more depression more anxiety and fear of what the future outcome will be and will it end up in the beginning of world war three because in my opinion it can happen so it has caused me to be discouraged .
my advice everybody leave the united states and relocate to different countries that seem to have their act together and can run their countries better then the united states can , i bet other countries have low rates in being discouraged and depression and i blame the united states politicians for all the people suffering to bad we can not send all of them in a rocket to another planet to take over and destroy that would solve man kind here all on earth for the dirty politicians take over .