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Some people consider themselves lucky, while others are convinced that they are unlucky in life and there is nothing they can do about it.
But, as psychologist and professor at the University of Hertfordshire, Richard Wiseman, argues, it is incorrect to view luck as something completely beyond a person’s control. His research shows that certain habits and actions can help increase the number of new opportunities and pleasant surprises in life – including financial ones.
In this material, we will talk about scientific and effective ways to become luckier.
TIP #1
Use lucky opportunities
People usually judge their luckiness by the experience of participating in contests and lotteries. In one of his experiments, Richard Wiseman placed an advertisement in the newspaper looking for people who considered themselves lucky or unlucky. 400 volunteers responded. Wiseman asked them to name any numbers. He chose those given by people who considered themselves lucky and put money on them in the lottery. The experiment participants played with him.
The researcher lost, as did most volunteers, and the number of winners in the groups of lucky and unlucky turned out to be approximately the same. From communication with people who regularly win in contests, he derived a simple pattern: they constantly participate in them, sometimes 60 times a week. No magic or special luck – just a larger number of attempts more often results in success.
At the same time, Wiseman noticed that people who considered themselves lucky behave differently. Firstly, they are more relaxed and calm, and therefore more attentive and more often notice a bill lying on the ground. Secondly, they are more open and easier to get along with people who can give useful advice or help in their career.
But according to Wiseman, these qualities can be developed, and therefore, the ability to notice happy opportunities. Here are his recommendations:
- Overcome awkwardness and make four new acquaintances, also reconnect with someone from old friends.
- Master relaxation techniques, such as breathing practices, and do not take action in a state of stress.
- Make a list of several things you have never done but always wanted to. A new experience is new acquaintances and a broader perspective of yourself.
TIP #2
Listen to your feelings
In situations of uncertainty, when you don’t exactly know what the outcome of your actions will be, you have to rely on intuition. According to an Australian study, this is how entrepreneurs act when their company enters a new market. Once their work is established, they start making decisions based on data and logic. It’s interesting to note that wealthy and successful people rely on intuition more often: 62% of American top managers trust their intuition, while among all residents of the country, this percentage is lower – 50%.
Participants in Richard Wiseman’s study who considered themselves lucky, said they often listen to their inner voice in life. Meanwhile, “unlucky” people admitted to ignoring intuition when it suggested that a decision shouldn’t be made.
Waisman considers intuition as the voice of the subconscious, which subtly detects different signals in people’s behavior and then provides hints. This voice can be heard, for example, when looking for a job: when everything seems fine, but something is unsettling during the interview. Of course, you shouldn’t rely solely on intuition when declining a job offer, but it’s important to understand your feelings, figure out what’s bothering you, and try to find out if there’s any basis for it.
Professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Judith Orloff, offers this advice: start paying attention to your gut feelings. The digestive tract is closely linked to the workings of the mind and brain, as has been scientifically proven, and therefore sensitively reacts to our emotions, including those that we don’t fully realize ourselves.
For example, when a person is truly pleased, inspired, and motivated by something, pleasant feelings appear in the gut. If something scares or worries us, we feel a tightness inside. In the case of particularly strong psychological stress, the gut can really get sick. If you learn to pay attention to these signals, you can better understand your intuition and emotions, and thus make better decisions.
TIP #3
Form positive expectations
According to studies, optimists have more harmonious relationships with money: they more often have savings and experience less stress from finances, 145 days a year less than pessimists. In addition, they find a job faster.
According to a survey by Richard Wiseman, lucky people more often than unlucky ones had positive expectations: they believed that some dream of theirs would come true, that they would receive a larger sum of money, that family relationships would be good, and that their achievements would be valued.
Also, “lucky people” believe that their luck will last for a long time, while “unlucky people” think that luck will soon turn away. People who believe in their success work harder to solve problems, increasing their chances. While unlucky people prepare for failure in advance and give up. Wiseman confirmed this experiment by asking “lucky” and “unlucky” groups to work on solving a puzzle. He said that there were unsolvable tasks, but in fact, they were all the same.
Puzzles were distributed among the participants by drawing lots, as a result 60% of the “unlucky” people reported that their puzzle was unsolvable. Among the lucky ones, 30% of them had such puzzles. “Most of the ‘losers’ immediately gave up the fight, not even trying to solve the task, because they decided that the unlucky draw had given them an unsolvable puzzle,” says Waizman.
Planning can help you tune into luck. Think about what you would like to achieve in life, your career, and how much money you would like to earn. To find motivation to work and not to be discouraged by the first failure, it is worth listing the pros and cons of achieving your goal.
Psychotherapist and author of the book “Anxiety Therapy” David Burns also suggests rating these advantages and disadvantages in points. This way you will understand how important the goal is to you and how it will improve your life.
TIP #4
Don’t get stuck in failures
A positive reevaluation of the situation helps to better cope with difficulties and get back in the mood for success. In a German psychologist’s experiment, students were offered to watch an unpleasant video and then deal with their emotions through positive reevaluation or suppress them. It turned out that those students who looked for something good in the unpleasant situation experienced more positive emotions and coped better with their academic task.
Lucky people are more likely to find the roots of future victories in failures. They compare themselves to people who have even less luck. This way, according to Richard Weissman, they are able to soften the impact of unpleasant events on their psyche. They don’t linger in their experiences for long and direct their thoughts to the future.
To reinterpret failures, you can think about how they will impact your life as a whole. You lost your wallet, but does that mean you have lost all your income? Instead of worrying, you can quickly replace your cards and maybe even get a more favorable offer from the bank.
If you weren’t hired for a job, does that mean you are no longer a professional? Perhaps this failure will allow you to respond to another, more favorable offer. If you failed an exam, maybe it’s a chance to improve your knowledge and gain more experience?
Such a positive reevaluation will help you feel better and continue to work despite failures.
TIP #5
Seek not the reasons for failure, but ways to avoid them
Making mistakes can lead to better learning and life lessons, as research shows that a failed test helps remember more information and a wrong answer helps learn the right one. Faced with failure, successful people don’t ignore it but take measures to avoid it in the future.
Wieszmann tried to understand how “lucky” and “unlucky” people would react to a series of failures in a job interview. He found that “unlucky” people were more likely to throw their hands up in frustration, while “lucky” people tried to find rational grains in their failed attempts.
“Unlucky” people often saw the causes of failure in the past, while “lucky” people looked for ways to avoid future mistakes in their own errors. For example, one participant in the experiment said he would have approached company representatives and learned how to behave correctly on the next try.
In case of problems, Weissman suggests approaching them creatively, using past mistakes as a source of inspiration. Here’s an algorithm for finding unconventional solutions:
- Don’t think the situation is hopeless. Take control of the events, rather than being a victim of circumstances.
- Do something immediately, don’t postpone it for later.
- Make a list of solution options and try to use an unconventional approach.
- Analyze each option and develop your strategy. Think about what needs to be done and if you have the necessary knowledge.
- Start executing the plan. Act deliberately and be ready to make changes to your plan over time.
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