Karma is the action or effort that operates through the law of cause and effect and binds the individual soul to the cycle of birth and death. It has different phases – Sanchita Karma is the sum total of all accumulated actions of all previous births. Prarabda Karma is the portion that is to be worked out in present life. Agami Karma is the fresh  being created in present life by the individual. So, destiny is the Prarabda  of the individual. It is the result of one’s past actions and has to be lived out. What we meet in the present is always the result of our past actions, in other words – result of the self-efforts of our past life-times. In reply to your question, yes everything happens as the outcome of self-effort, either due to self-effort of the present life or due to the self-efforts of past lives.

As explained in the past, both destiny and self-effort have great significance in our lives. Both are rooted in the efforts made by the individual soul. All efforts made by the individual soul bears results equal to the efforts made, either in this life-time or in future life-times.