Can you be categorized as a lucky person? Or perhaps you feel very unlucky instead?
What is luck? Based on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ‘luck’ can be defined as:
1) a force that brings good fortune or adversity
2) the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
Perhaps we always know that one person who has a very good fortune in his life. For instance, “Oh, did you hear that Andy had passed the final exam? He rarely attended the class, he didn’t even study at all!” or “Anita is so lucky! That big company hired her even though she wasn’t one of the best graduates in her college”. I bet you have heard of those things, haven’t you? Or if you haven’t, I’m sure that you are that lucky person then *wink*.
Here’s something for you to understand. The luck factor isn’t a miracle even though it seemed so. We can create our good fortune. Being lucky is a state of mind! Richard Wiseman is a professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He did research regards to the bad and good luck phenomenon in the early 2000’s. In his self-help book The Luck Factor(2003), he examined both bad and good luck, which resulted from measurable habits. He figured out that lucky people are outgoing and observant, hence they have more chance encounters than the unlucky people. Lucky people are also more likely to look on the bright side of unpleasant experiences. He also stated, “[Lucky people] are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.”
Lucky people and unlucky people are being compared in their daily routine to reveal the fact that lucky people are mostly success because they are more relaxed and open, hence they see the big picture instead of see what they are looking for only. By seeing more openly, thus lucky people able to find other opportunities that usually are being missed by other people. Unlucky people are generally got anxious more than lucky people, which it disrupts people’s ability to notice the unexpected. Unlucky people usually miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking something else
The research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles:
Principle One: Maximize Chance Opportunities
Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life and by being open to new experiences.
Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches
Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities by, for example, meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune
Lucky people are certain that the future is going to be full of good fortune. These expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping lucky people persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.
Principle Four: Transforms Bad Luck to Good
Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on the ill fortune, and take control of the situation.
In the wake of these studies, Wiseman concluded there are three easy techniques that can help to maximize good fortune:
Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think it helps them because gut feelings has a role as an alarm bell – a reason to consider a decision carefully.
Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.
Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.
Thus, I guess the luck factor neither is longer a mystery nor belong to only “exclusively” lucky people. We definitely can create our good luck by forming a “lucky” state of mind. By exercising our new mindset I am sure that we will easily spot chance opportunities, listen more to our intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. You can now forget about your lucky charm’s addiction. Matter fact, the real lucky charm is YOU! Good luck then!!
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