This Friday's "20/20" focuses on luck.
Pure luck, beginner's luck, dumb luck …

Can you make your own luck? Or is luck just chance?

Calling someone lucky can sound like a put-down -- when was the last time a successful person called himself lucky? "When something bad happens to you, it's bad luck. When something good happens to you, it's your skill and hard work. It's pretty simple," said "Freaknomics" author Steven J. Dubner. Chris Connelly reports on smart luck.

Other people seem to have all the luck. Always in the right place at the right time, they get all the breaks. What makes a person lucky? One prominent psychologist thinks good luck in life is no accident.

From a very young age, 17-year-old Jessica Forsyth seemed to be a magnet for bad luck: She broke her collarbone not once, but twice, and had many other injuries. But this seemingly bad string of luck turned out to be a blessing. Doctors say that a metal plate which repaired one of the collarbone fractures probably saved Jessica's life when she survived being shot multiple times at close range by her ex-boyfriend.

Also on the show, actor and author Marilu Henner speaks candidly about being lucky in love. "I know lucky when I see it," Henner said.

And it is said that severely superstitious people approach all of life as a game of chance. Elizabeth Vargas talks to actor Liev Schreiber about theater superstitions and to successful businessman Peter Arnell, who relies on his lucky charms to close big deals.

Watch "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. EDT for those stories.