In Vedic Astrology there are concepts of prarabdha and purushartha. Prarabdha in english means fate.

     The fate of an individual plays a big part in shaping his/her life. If an individual is meant to rise from rags to riches than fate pushes him in that direction. If he is meant to fall down from a top position in life than fate pushes him in that direction. It all depends on karma of an individual or in other words purushartha. To a believer of fate, luck controls the destiny while for a believer of purushartha, hard work controls the destiny. Actually the reality is somewhere in the middle. 

     Prarabdha and Purushartha are not on collision course but rather run parallel and meet at some point of the road. The hard work of today becomes the good fortune of tomorrow. The fate faced today maybe a result of bad deeds of yesterday. Similarly today's fate may decide the native's choice of work tomorrow. In astrological terms the placement and aspect of benefic planets like Jupiter, Venus and Moon drive the good prarabdha while placement and aspect of malefic planets like Saturn, Mars, Rahu and Ketu drive the bad prarabdha which befalls a native. 

As Kabir rightly said in his doha: 

“Manushya kadi balwaan nahi; Samaya sab se balwaan
Kaabe Arjuna lutiyo; Wahi dhanush wahi baan”

Translation: Time is more powerful compared to the human. The greatest of the warrior Arjuna lost to a bunch of tribesman of forest even though he was using the same quiver and arrows which he used to defeat mighty warriors. 

     Somethings in life are beyond the control of humans. There fate reigns supreme on the individual. Its wise to accept it as it comes and work towards a better future by doing purushartha(hard work).