Agreed smart financial planning will play the biggest role in brightening up lifestyle changes. Success has a very positive correlation with hard work. But only hard work does not guarantee your success, for this you need to set goals and proceed according to plan. One of the easiest ways to accumulate wealth is to increase your earning potential. Work on acquiring new skills and consider side hustles.
New skills and hard work alone can't make people successful, I think to be successful in anything you need to have a long term plan of what you want to achieve. If you believe in your religion and have luck along with it then you can do everything right.
But success means different things to different people around us. Everyone's goals and objectives are different.