There are countless factors which control our present and shape the future. We are today what we chose to be some time back. There are factors on which we don't have any say, so its better we ignore them. These factors are luck, fate etc. But there are things which are in our hand and we don't care. Consciously or unconsciously we ignore and let things go out of our hand and at the end of the day we find ourself with empty hands. I believe our life shapes in a fixed pattern. This pattern again can be streamlined if we find the underline factors.
We are part of this nature and nature loves symmetry so we should try to learn from nature. What i mean here by symmetry, is that we complicate our life because we don't behave in same pattern in the same situation. One of the biggest puzzle is to understand people around us, so just imagine how things will change if we start behaving in a pattern. How easier life will become if i know that my friend x will "always" help me if required. I understand it's difficult to always behave in a pattern but again if we give proper thought then its not difficult to understand that we can still follow a pattern when we break another one. I am stressing here on the bigger picture of our life.
Our objective should be to understand our life in totality and try to find the good pattern which define us and try to stick to these patterns.