Since your Eight Cyclical Characters are fixed and your fate is sealed at birth, isn't the popular saying "fate is self-made, fortune is soul-forged" simply a way of providing encouragement and consolation?
照說凡人呱呱墜地之時，八字已定，命格既成，俗話所謂的「命由己作，相由心生」，莫非只是對人的鼓勵、安慰之語？