Hi @bakingengineer! (I don't seem able to auto-tag people with '@'?)
I am actually hoping to post my free will views pretty soon - but as it relates specifically to your post, I think everything is luck at the bottom. For example, you worked very hard at school, and some people you know didn't. And congrats to you! But here's one version of the kicker question that throws free will for a loop: is there some reason you worked harder? For example, did you have better role models, or were you born with more natural drive? This is a "dilemma" question, because you're kind of stuck however you answer it. If you say yes there was a reason, we can ask about how those reasons came about, and repeat the question - and if not, then you are granting it was chance after all. Everything you do was either caused by things well before you were born (so even if not directly the product of chance, you are the lucky beneficiary) or else directly from chance.
I know you say you hate when people say this. And I know it is sad to hear at first. But philosophers think that it is dangerous to reject a conclusion just because it is sad. If you have net reason to believe something, you should believe it, even if it's sad. And actually I think both that
a) this conclusion (that there is no "real" free will) is not so bad, and
b) this has very important consequences for lots of serious "real-world" political questions, such as just punishment and wealth redistribution.