Lucky Stuff For Luck Stiffs by Warren Bull

Lucky Stuff For Luck Stiffs by Warren Bull

Photo by Todd Cravens on Upsplash

Note: No rabbits were hobbled and no clovers were plucked in the writing of this article.

Even if you were not born under a lucky star or chosen as one of fortune’s favorite few, research has shown there are seven ways to enhance your luck.

1 Relax:

In one experiment, participants were asked to perform a menial task, i.e., to count how many photographs were in a newspaper. Unlucky people took about two minutes on average to complete the assignment. Lucky people were done in a few seconds.

Why? Because of the message, “STOP COUNTING-THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER,” which took up half of page two. Unlucky people skipped right past it while the lucky ones spotted it right away. Unlucky people also missed a second large message in the middle of the paper, “STOP COUNTING, TELL THE EXPERIMENTER YOU HAVE SEEN THIS AND WIN $100.” Again, the unlucky people were too busy looking for photos.

“Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities,” said the researcher, Dr. Richard Wiseman. “They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life and by being open to new experiences.”

2: Have the guts to trust your guts

In surveys conducted by Dr. Wiseman, 80 to 90% considered lucky reported they trusted their intuition in personal relationships and making career choices. Unlucky people reported doing so about 20% less.

3: Dream BIG

Like the song Happy Talk in the musical South Pacific: You’ve got to have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna’ to have a dream come true? Visualize your goal in as much specific detail as possible. Start working toward it. Take steps toward it no matter how tiny they are. If moving forward a yard is too hard, an inch is a cinch. 

4. Fake it until you make it

Even when success feels unlikely, behave as if it is definitely going to happen. Acting like a winner projects the image and emotion of winning. Behaving is becoming;  you can convince yourself as you convince the rest of the world.

5. Gain from losing

When an attempt does not completely succeed, and many, if not most, attempts do not. Recognize and make use of the feedback.  Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work." There are always lessons to be learned from trying.

6. Back up and try another way

Follow the knowledge you gained from your last attempt. Keep what works and try altering what did not work. With your eyes on the prize, that is what we call progress. The only failure is the failure to try again. That failure disappears with the next try.

7. Expect success

Lucky people succeed in part because they expect to. They understand that they are active in determining their luck. My father often told me, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Lucky people stay alert to opportunity, take risks based on their gut feelings, visualize what they want to achieve, act like winners however they feel at the moment, see temporary failures as opportunities to learn and improve, and adapt their efforts based on what they have learned.