Good Luck: How You Can Improve and Maintian It

When it comes to defining luck I have heard many variation of the quote "when preparations meets opportunity." To start this paper I wanted to get a little more descriptive by consulting an old standby; the Marriam-Webster's online dictionary. Their definition of luck is as follows:

Luck
1 a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
2: favoring chance

When people see words like "chance" or "force" they tend to think that the situations surrounding them are almost random or even supernatural in origin. They tend to feel as though there is not much we can do to influence these situations other than to submit to the way it is. However, thanks to the research of guys like author Randall Fitzgerald and psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman, we learn that these situations are in fact very manageable.

Randall Fitzgerald in his book "Lucky You" shared his extensive collection of amazing stories about people who won lotteries multiple times, followed gut instincts to slot machines harboring lucrative jackpots and others still who were able to cheat death under the most fatal circumstances. He also shared many stories of how he was able to ride his own wave of both fortune and misfortune.

After reading his book, I felt Randall was definitely on to something. However, while the true stories within his book were amazing and awe inspiring; there was something missing. Mr. Fitzgerald felt that once he was able to recognize gut feelings, you could parlay it into a few beneficial events, but other than offering up a few meditation techniques, he does not really give the reader any tips to on how they can change or increase their own luck. I suspected that there had to be something more and a quick browse though the bibliography of "Lucky You" confirmed it.

A psychologist by the name of Dr. Richard Wiseman had a book called "The Luck Factor." This book was summary of over ten years of countless questionnaires, scientific experiments, and tests. He concluded through this scientific research that, to use his words "superstitious thinking is based on a misunderstanding of luck."

He found that you have much more control over your luck than previously thought. In fact, his studies led him to discover that there were certain characteristics that were present in both lucky and unlucky people. These characteristics then led to the formation of four principles and 12 sub-principles which he has used to help thousands of people live luckier, happier lives.

These four principles are;
1) You must be able to recognize and maximize chance opportunities.
2) You must recognize and listen to your gut hunches.
3) You must expect good fortune.
4) You must be able to turn your bad luck into good luck.

Let's take a look at each of these more closely.

Have you ever known someone who knew someone who helped you get something you needed just when you needed it? Or have you struggled to find an answer to an important question for days only to give up and find the answer during a relaxing evening soaking up a few beers with friends? Well then maybe you are off to a good start with this luck thing.

According to Dr. Wiseman, there are three ways lucky people are able to recognize and maximize chance opportunities; build and maintain a large network of friends and associates, maintain a relaxed attitude toward life, and be open to new experiences.

During his studies he recognized that people who considered themselves lucky never seemed to miss opportunities and those considering themselves unlucky never seemed to catch a break.

In one experiment he illustrated his theories dealing with openness to new experiences and a relaxed attitude. After years of distributing questionnaires to thousands of people he was able to identify who considered themselves lucky or unlucky. Using this knowledge he was able to perform tests to determine traits common in both groups.

With one test in particular he was able to learn how a relaxed attitude toward life and open mindedness can benefit lucky people. He had both lucky and unlucky parties to go through a newspaper and count all of the photos. He noticed that it took unlucky people an average of two minutes to complete the test but lucky people were only taking around 43 seconds to complete the test.

Now why would lucky and unlucky people differ so much just by performing the mundane task of counting pictures? On the third page of the paper he put an ad telling the subjects to stop counting pictures. Lucky people on average discovered the note quickly and the unlucky people, missing the note entirely, kept on counting.

So how does this test prove the objective? He concluded that the reason unlucky people were unable to recognize the time-saving message was that they were too focused and/or to rigid in their thinking. The lucky people on the other hand were just the opposite and therefore benefited.

Also, Dr. Wisemans research concluded that being very social and networking increases a person's circle of friends and contacts. This greatly increases the potential for chance encounters.

Bottom line, making a bunch of friends, staying relaxed and stepping outside of your comfort zone will increase the probability of positive chance encounters.

Did you know there are over 100 billion neurons in your gut? That is more than the spinal cord alone. Because of this, many scientists actually consider the lower abdominal region a second brain. All of those nerves are there for a variety of reasons but one in particular applies when talking about luck. In fact these neurons work in harmony with our unconscious to help us make critical decisions.

Dr. Wiseman found that many people who considered themselves lucky were very aware of their intuation and relied on them for pretty much every major decision. Also, in many cases, lucky people were more apt to take measures to enhance their intuition

Dr. Wiseman's book gave a few examples to illustrate his point, but it was in a book called "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell that I was able to really get a handle on how our *adaptive unconscious works.

Many times, without our knowing it, our unconscious mind is much more aware of circumstances and situations. As a survival mechanism our adaptive unconscious makes it possible for us to assess situations in order to make important life saving decisions fast, without having to think them through.

For instance, "Blink" use this example. You step into the street and suddenly realize that there is a truck bearing down on you. You obviously don't have time to consciously think through every option. A decision will be made by your adaptive unconscious. In fact, our adaptive unconscious can usually **size up a situation in whopping two to three seconds.

The example of a truck bearing down on you doesn't exactly hit the nail on the head when relating adaptive unconscious to intuition and luck, but it is without a doubt a factor when making decisions that will affect the outcome of a given situation in a lucky or unlucky manner.

For the record, many studies that have been done prove an overwhelming majority of these split second decision are correct. Usually the only thing clouding them, or leading them astray, is our own prejudices, strong desires, or the over thinking done by the rational, conscience mind.

Traditionally, enhancing intuition is usually done in a variety of ways. Many of the popular means enlisted included contemplation, clearing the mind of other thoughts, finding a quiet place, and, the most popular of them all, meditation.

In the future don't dismiss your gut feelings just because they don't appear to be rational, but go with it, chances are it will be the right move.

*The book "Blink" differentiates between unconscious and adaptive unconscious. I feel that in this context the adaptive unconscious is the type that explains intuition the best. "Blink" was published in 2005 and based on recent studies than some of those in Dr Wiseman's "The Luck Factor" which was published in 2003. I feel that had Dr. Wiseman read "Blink" at the time he was doing his research, he would agree.

**"Blink" goes into great detail explaining what happens during this short amount of time, and I'd love to talk about this topic (called thin slicing) in more detail, but I only have so much space in this paper. Perhaps it is a topic for next year.

Are you one of those people who expect good things to happen or are you one who is just waiting for the next thing to go wrong? Chances are, the way you answer that question is directly associated with whether you feel lucky or unlucky.

As it turns out, there is something to your great expectations, self fulfilling prophecies, and your good ole bullheaded determination. In other words lucky people expect their good fortune to continue in the future, expect all their interactions with others to be successful and they almost always continue striving for their goals in the face of failure.

Outside of the studies that Dr. Wiseman conducted to discover the differences between the outlooks of the lucky and unlucky, he pointed to a well known study to help illustrate the power of self-fulfilling prophecies.

There was a group of high school teachers that were given a list of students who were considered late bloomers. What the teachers didn't know is that these students were randomly picked. What happened was that, knowing the potential of the students, the teachers tended to gravitate towards the late bloomers. They gave them more attention by checking up on them more frequently, calling on them in class, and giving them extra help. This resulted in an increased performance of the late bloomers over the rest of the class. The researchers were able to conclude that it was the teacher's belief that these students were late bloomers and destined to become better students, and that had influenced the outcome.

Many times what we consider to be good luck is actually us controlling the outcome. On the questionnaire Dr. Wiseman noticed another difference in lucky and unlucky people's thinking. Unlucky people were always using excuses to back up their claims of bad luck.

For example, they would use self fulfilling statements to back up their misfortune. Here are a few. I am always unlucky when it comes to winning contests so I don't bother getting in them." (how can you win if you don't participate). Or this one, "I have always been unlucky in love so I don't even date anymore."
Sounds crazy but that is what he found. Here's one I came up with, "I am a and I can never do because of it." If only I had a dollar every time I heard that one.

Here's a quote that I use to keep my self fulfilling promises in line, "You can't get what you want by focusing on what you don't have." Perhaps you could use it yourself in the future as a reminder of this principle.

You have probably heard the old adage about your glass being either half empty or half full. The 4th principle not only confirms its validity but drives home the powerful effect of belief either way.

No matter what any of us do there are going to be those times when lady luck doesn't seem to be cooperating with us, but, there is no need to get down about it. Dr. Wiseman found that lucky people would never dwell on bad fortune, that they would always be able to find the good in the bad, they would realize that misfortune always works out for the best, and take steps to make sure that it would never happen again.

To help illustrate this point I can draw from an experience in my own life. A few years back I dislocated my knee playing touch football. Three of the four ligaments in my knee had to be either replaced or reattached.

Many people, including myself for a day or two, talked about how unlucky I was to have such a thing happen in only the second game of the season, to be in all that pain, and to have a mounting pile of medical bills. But, looking back, it actually turned out that this seemingly unlucky event would actually produce far more luck.

To start with, in the months after my accident, I had a chance to see how far my wife (girlfriend at the time) would to go to care for me and most likely our children. This illustrated to me how lucky I was to have her around and the importance of keeping it that way. This played an important part in my decision to ask her to marry me less than three months later.

Next, during my recovery, I had a chance to read many books that taught me a great deal about my body and mind. Life is often fast and all of this reading gave me the opportunity to slow down, learn new things and assess the old things. I was able to gain a new appreciation for my health and my place in life.

Finally, I was fortunate that I had a desk job were I could actually collect a pay check with my leg in the air. Had I been working at the foundry or at a construction job, things could have been much worse. Those are just a few; I know I could go on.

I can think of many people, including myself at one time, who would have went into a downward spiral because an incident like this would lead them to believe that they were unlucky. Because of this misconception they lack the ability to dismiss their misfortune and learn from the unlucky event. They would simply chalk it up to bad luck and carry on as before.

Next time something unfortunate happens, instead of wallowing in despair, take the time to think of how is could have been worse and then think of ways that it could end up working to your advantage.

For the record, many of the lessons learned by Dr. Wiseman over his 10 years of study were put to good use. He was able to take all of the information I shared with you above and break it all down into something he called luck school.

Although I haven't enrolled myself just yet, I did take note of his success rate. It was impressive. He reported that 80% of the people who consider themselves unlucky before applying the principles, now felt lucky. Also, many of the people who considered themselves lucky, felt even luckier.

In conclusion I hope you can see that luck is much more than rabbits feet, four leaf clovers and black cats crossing your path. Sure there are those things out there that are out of our control but many of them are not. It is the way we handle the things that are in our control and react to the ones out of are control that go a long way in determined our fate.

Just think of how much better off you, and everyone else around you, would be if you were able to incorporate the four principles; recognize and maximize chance opportunities, recognize and listen to your intuition, expect good fortune, and turn your bad luck into good luck. Sounds so simple doesn't it?

All of the information for this lens is more or less a summary of the books listed below. If the information is useful to you and you want to learn more I suggest reading each of them starting with "The Luck Factor."