The Loser's Guide To Getting Lucky

BBC ^ | 12-26-2003 | Professor Richard Wiseman

[blam]

The loser's guide to getting lucky

By Professor Richard Wiseman
University of Hertfordshire

Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck.

I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune.

I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and, over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.

Professor Wiseman's top tips

The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune.

Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves

Larry King

Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside.

Professor Wiseman's formula came too late for some... I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250."

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high.

Anxiety

It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Everything in life is luck

Donald Trump

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else.

They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends.

They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

Luck is believing you¹re lucky

Tennessee Williams

My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles.

They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck.

I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results

These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it

Thomas Jefferson

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.

Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor" .

Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:

Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right

Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy

[hosepipe]

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -Thomas Jefferson

[redhead]

Generally speaking, we make our own "luck." Hubby was often called "lucky" because he frequently won in raffles and drawings. What the people who called him "lucky" didn't know was that he was willing to buy a whole book of chances, or spend a fair amount to increase his odds. And he entered nearly every drawing he saw, which is another way of increasing the odds of winning something.

[FierceDraka]

There is really something to this.

For example, when I was in my early 20's, I was viciously pessimistic. There had been some circumstances in my life that were the result of some bad decisions I had made (early marriage), and I was a gushing font of hatred.

After a while, though, my attitude changed. Ever since then, things have gotten progressively better, and I noticed that I started getting lucky. It's sort of a feedback-loop.

[JoeSchem]

They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

It's odd that secular people are saying this even as the pastor at my church is condemning the 'Prosperity Gospel.'

[Wilhelm Tell]

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it

Thomas Jefferson

That in my experience is the crux of the matter. I have experienced victories and some pretty big losses in my life. Luck happens, but you have to work hard for it! A big part of it is just being aware and a little creative. Each situation has its own "pivot" as it were, and if you can anticipate when and where this pivot will be, you will be in a better position. If you are the first person to see an opportunity to take advantage of or a problem to avoid, then you are ahead of the game. And that is just the starting point! That is just the beginning of the work you have to do.

I do not believe in the power of positive thinking. I do believe in the positive power of thinking. Every time I have undertaken something important, I have told myself that there is only a 1/3rd of a chance of things going well and a 2/3rd chance of failure. You just have to get the best information you can, work hard and creatively, and be prepared to cut your losses and try something else. I have had to earn some things twice over, but I plodded along not so much because I was inspired -- I just didn't know what else to do. But I knew that just stopping and blaming my problems on others or waiting for someone to "give" me an opportunity would not get me anywhere.

I do not understand the passive attitude some people have. I know a 60 year old who is still mopeing about what his parents did not give him many years ago. I know someone who is stuck in a lousy job, complains about it, but seldom applies for another job.

Just a few trite observations from someone who has experienced both success and failure.

[AnnaZ]

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

 

It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

 

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

 

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ...

 

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitude.

~ Chuck Swindoll ~

[bert]

....thought this was going to be an article on dating tips....

It is you perpetually unlucky soul.)

[CaptRon]

I don't know about that!

[ffusco]

How about good fortune, providence, happy accidents, or coincidence as an alternative,

[ffusco]

Same here. My 20's were a full blown narcissistic nightmare.

[WKB]

How about good fortune, providence, happy accidents, or coincidence as an alternative


And to Whom or What do you contribute as the source to these things. They have to originate somewhere for some reason.
Things don't just HAPPEN.

[ffusco]

While I do believe in G-d, I don't think G-d is manipulating every atom. Things do Just happen.It's called free will.

[TIGHTEN]

I'm with WKB; I don't believe in luck, accidents, coincidence, fortune, etc...

All destiny; no free will. Just do your best and there's nothing to worry about. I'm telling you it makes life so much easier.

I'd call a consistently "lucky" person successful (even if it's at winning door prizes!).

I'm a stock and futures daytrader, but my opinion was formed before I began trading 5 years ago.

[ffusco]

Destiny seems a bit arrogant. That is to say if you are lucky (successful)you are pre-ordained to succeed. But if you fail, you are destined to fail. Most people have a potential for both. False profits and despots speak of their own destiny. This kind of thinking is at best wishful, and at worst dangerous.

[TIGHTEN]

I don't agree that it's arrogant, but I understand how you feel. Most everyone I've ever discussed this with has problems with the idea.

But that's okay, it was meant to be that way:)

I prefer the word perfect over destiny, but they both get you to the same place. No changing the past, therefore it's perfect.

Take something like the lottery. The winners must be the luckiest people in the land, right? I disagree. Your chances of falling out of bed and killing yourself are higher than winning the lottery. The chances of winning are too astronomical for anything other than perfection.
IMO.

Yes people succeed and fail throughout their lives. It happens. One can either take credit/blame others, or give credit to our creator and thank Him that it wasn't worse.

Perhaps you think I've taken the phrase, "everything happens for a reason" a bit too far. Well, I don't think you can have it both ways. Either everything happens for a reason, or it happens for no reason at all.

Back to the lottery winners, have you heard any of the stories from some of these people? Yikes. Loss of family, friends, money, etc.. Not too lucky.

Have a great weekend :)

[Aeronaut]

In the words of an old blues song: "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all." (Not my situation, I might add!)

[Revolting cat!]

Damn it, I'm late to this great thread! Just my rotten luck!

[ffusco]

Thank you for your follow up reply. Your optimism and acceptance of the past make you truly lucky as well as receptive to many blessings along the way.

(Visiting my brother in Maine this week,finally got some snow and went snowmobiling- first time- what a blast! Even had fun when I wiped out!)

Happy New Year Bro!

[ffusco]

No changing the past, therefore it's perfect.

Words to live by.