Can You Learn to be Lucky? Part 1

Dr. Richard Wiseman is a U.K. magician, skeptic, and psychology professor who set out to answer the title question! The result: The Luck Factor book, which I highly recommend!

Soon after he began his research, the producer of a popular TV science program asked him to collaborate. They put out a short piece on the program inviting viewers who felt especially lucky or unlucky in life to call the station. They wanted people who were planning to participate in the U.K. national lottery. Wiseman created a survey to quantify “luckiness.”

Millions of people called and they took the first 1,000 callers. They completed the survey and told Wiseman the numbers they had picked for the lottery. Wiseman quickly noticed that the self-described lucky and unlucky people picked different numbers! After pondering the ethics, Wiseman bought his first ever lottery ticket based on the lucky people’s numbers.

What do you think happened? Your answer will be quite revealing. It turned out that Wiseman won nothing and the lucky and unlucky people won totally at random. Being lucky did not give some psychic superpower to divine winning lottery numbers.

But luck really is a thing. Lucky people do very well in life, finding endless lucky opportunities. Unlucky people never seem to get a break. Wiseman wanted to find out how luck worked. For ten years he studied 400 diverse people in depth. What was it that made some people lucky and some unlucky?

He first considered that people who were smarter were luckier. He gave his subjects intelligence tests and there was no difference between lucky and unlucky people.

He gleaned Four Principles of Luck that lucky people used and that unlucky people missed. Principle One? Creating and noticing chance opportunities. He gave his subjects a newspaper and asked them to count how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took two minutes for the task. The lucky ones took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper had a bold message taking up half the page: “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs.”

The unlucky people were so busy counting, they missed it. They also missed a second message offering $250 if they saw it!

In contrast, lucky people stay relaxed and open. Lucky people go to a party open to talking to any interesting person with no fixed goal. They build networks of friends who in turn may lead to the perfect job or perfect life partner. At a typical party, you are just “two handshakes removed” from 4.5 million people! Lucky people maintain those contacts.

Unlucky people fall into habitual ruts. They take the same routes and talk to the same types of people. Lucky people seek out new experiences, new places to go, and new types of people to meet. Lucky people talk to strangers in line. Some go out of their way to meet new people by forcing themselves only to talk to people wearing a certain color at a party! 

Or play a dice game to choose a new experience from visiting the zoo to taking up skydiving!

Most great discoveries were made by luck. Better to maximize lucky opportunities than control everything. Being in the right place at the right time means being in the right state of mind.

Unlucky people tend to be anxious and fearful, creating a vicious circle. These emotions make people less aware of opportunities. Making them less lucky. Lucky people are more trusting and willing to think the best of new people they meet.

Principle Two? Listen to your gut feelings and hunches. And find ways to boost your intuition.

Imagining visiting an old man in a remote mountain cave. He asks you to list each option you are facing and how you honestly feel about each one. Don’t use logic or numbers. It is OK later to compare your feeling with evidence. But don’t dismiss your feelings.

Write a resignation or breakup letter but don’t send it yet. Just see how it feels.

He also suggests meditation. Don’t ruminate on your options. Rather, clear your mind for ten minutes or go for a hike. Afterwards, your intuitions will be fresh.

Luck matters. One instance of bad luck can mean a life of disability or bankruptcy. One instant of good luck can save years of hard work.

In Part 2 I will discuss Principles Three and Four of The Luck Factor!