I've always thought of life as being a series of opportunities, and depending on how you live your life and how lucky you are, that number differs.

Having opportunities is very different from success though; the successful are those who are smart, clever and quick enough to realize that the opportunity exists, and are diligent enough to actually realize that opportunity. After all, isn't Y-combinator quite literally an incubator of those who have noticed an opportunity and chosen to pursue it?