Luck or hard work?

My father has commented that the "me" from a thousand years ago must have done many good deeds for the current "me" to be in this life.  Luck is definitely a factor, but I try in many small ways to keep the karma going. 

A surprisingly accurate palm reader in rural Colombia informed me that a spirit, perhaps of a male ancestor, looks out for me and materializes whenever I needed help.  Mike considers psychics to be a complete sham, but I would like to present some evidence of luck at play.  

  • Sydney Airport (2001): My favorite purple windbreaker jacket (with a boarding pass and currency from 3 countries in the pocket) was stolen off my carry-on luggage, after I had checked-in.  I retraced all my steps looking for it, to no avail.  Shortly after take-off, a flight attendant came by and asked to verify my seat number. She notified me that I had won a free roundtrip ticket from anywhere in the world to Hong Kong, as part of Cathay Pacific's anniversary promotion.  Sweet!  They had randomly drawn 5 other seats before mine, but those were all unoccupied. I had boarded with a paper replacement ticket ($50 cost to re-issue).
  • Copenhagen (1998) - my wallet was pickpocketed on the main pedestrian road when I was out shopping with my brother, Norman.  A day later, one of my local colleagues (whose business card was in the wallet) got a call from a clothing store on that street.  The thieves had dropped it there, minus all the cash save for a 5 kroner coin (enough for bus fare, how considerate).  I got all of ID and credit cards back.   
  • Madrid (2000) - I was white-collar-organized-crime robbed in the lobby of the Palace Hotel, where a large man wearing an apron asked for my room number at breakfast.  When he walked past, I noticed that his clipboard had only a blank sheet on it, and not a list of guests' names. My "Prada" laptop bag was missing when I looked down.  Luckily, it had been purchased at an outdoor market in Beijing.  My real laptop was still sitting at my feet, in a sturdier bag right next to it. All the thieves got was a few folders full of receipts and a trip-insured Casio Cassiopeia.   
  • Johannesburg Airport (2003) - I somehow managed to lose my wallet and ID in the airport.  Twenty minutes before boarding, I heard my name being called on the overhead speaker.  A grumpy looking German man (also a traveler) held up my driver's license next to my head to verify identity.  Apparently I had left my wallet at the VAT rebate desk.  Oops!  I gave him a big hug of thanks, and then ran of to catch my flight.  
  • Manhattan Beach (2017) - I left my (only set) of car keys at a restaurant after brunch.  As a joke, Mike had filled out the comment card that day (in my name) to sign me up to for e-mails.  They e-mailed me to come to retrieve them; I brought the hostess a bottle of Veuve back as thanks.     

It's amazing that people as careful as my parents raised a daughter as careless as me. Mike, my parents, Joe, Christy and others seem to think that luck plays the major role in my life.  "Hey, I work hard, too!" is met with an eye roll from Mike. 

"If hard work was enough, all of the immigrant day laborers picking strawberries in the fields would be millionaires," was his reply.  Fair point.  "I'm an immigrant to the U.S. too, from Canada!" is met with a double eye-roll from Mike.   

Actually, the biggest factor contributing to my "luck" was my grandparents' decision to leave mainland China for Hong Kong, and my mother and father's independent decisions to go to Canada to study, where they met.  Otherwise, I'd be just some other ordinary Chinese girl scraping her way, next to 1.4 billion others.  

What do you think has contributed to your own success?  Luck or effort?