Quite an interesting discussion.
I think there is luck (chance that is positive in your life, I like the sound of that) but, more importantly, there is what you do with your life.
I'm one of those who stumbled on this blog and thought, WOW! I LIKE THIS! I WANNA DO IT! And I changed my habits, developed will power, discipline, etc. and with the help of my parents (they're letting me stay with them to save money) and some windfalls of money I was owed, I paid off over $10K in a few short months. (More details on that in my journal.)
Not everyone's parents would do the same. I'm lucky there. But I am the one who chose to change my ways.
I tried to share this super early retirement idea with some friends and my friend wasn't even interested. She seemed wary of it and didn't want to hear about it. Like she immediately blocked the idea because she couldn't see how it would be possible. Her hubby got excited and started talking about retiring at 50. And that was just from me briefly mentioning the whole savings rate thingy, how you can retire years earlier if your savings rate is high. But it was a short conversation because I could tell she was against it. So different people, based on their life experience, or habits, or outlook, or whatever, take this information in different ways.
All I can say is, I'm glad I'm not my friend. I'm glad I was open-minded enough about this to look into it more and implement changes in my life. Where she saw a negative, I was intrigued.
Who cares if I was born with an inclination to instant gratification or whatever? It's obviously possible for people to change their ways and develop will power, luck or no luck.