Why Are Some People Lucky? Tue, May 23, 2017

You may recall from the book, The Happiness Advantage, the experiment by professor Richard Wiseman to examine luck and why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I found a blog that elaborates on the characteristics of lucky and unlucky people as a result of his research.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. His research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They 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, “never say die” attitude that transforms bad luck into good.  

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to gatherings intent on finding their perfect partner and miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

So here are four tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts – they are often right

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or phone call

Remember that the happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to enjoy things that are less than perfect.

~ Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire