Can You Influence Luck?

According to Dr Richard Wiseman you can. On the rare occasion I watch TV I try and make the experience as beneficial or enjoyable as possible. By chance I tuned in to Catalyst, a great show on the ABC. One particular segment was about a study completed on Luck believe it or not. How lucky was I? Sorry about that. Anyway Dr Wiseman observed a high number of people conducting tests and observing behaviours and results of the tests. As a result of his study he constructed 4 characteristics of lucky people.

1. Lucky people maximise the principles of luck. They displayed open body language and not folded arms or legs.
2. Lucky people listened to their intuition. They trusted their own instincts, ran with them and more often than not experienced a positive experience because of it. They took action.
3. Lucky people expect good luck. What he found was individuals who looked for lucky breaks often found opportunities that benefited them in some way.
4. Lucky people turn bad luck into good luck. Any situations that occurred that were negative the lucky people took that bad experience and extracted any beneficial information from the experience and utilised it. One individual went for a bank loan to start his own business but was rejected. The bank officer informed the applicant of a similar case just before him for the same business idea. The applicant got the details of the previous applicant and contacted him. To cut a long story short they both started up in business together and have since moved on in their own separate paths and having great successes.

All in all it was a very interesting and highlighted to me that there is no such thing as luck. It is another word for taking your opportunities when they present. Thinking of yourself as unlucky is a superstitious belief that inhibits hope. Interestingly around 60% of the attendees in this Happy School experienced not just positive experiences but life changing events. Something in it I reckon.