Do you feel lucky? Believe it or not, the way that you answer that question is a predictor of your level of success and joy in life. Dr. Richard Wiseman, head of psychology research at the University of Hertfordshire in England and author of the book linked below, was curious about people who are consistently blessed with good fortune. For eight years he studied 400 people who considered themselves either particularly lucky or unlucky. As a result, he has proved scientifically that luck isn’t a coincidence. Lucky people think and act with specific behaviors that open the way for good things to happen.
Lucky people expect success, moving beyond the “glass-half-full” power of positive thinking. They are skilled at noticing and more open to new possibilities. One way Wiseman measured this was by asking all 400 subjects to count the number of photographs in a newspaper. At the third page was a large advertisement that boldly declared, “STOP COUNTING! THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER.” Lucky people noticed, laughed and asked if they should keep counting. Yes, they were told, keep counting. Further along there was another advertisement that read “STOP COUNTING! TELL THE EXPERIMENTOR YOU’VE SEEN THIS AND WIN 150 POUNDS (Sterling).” Once again, the people who considered themselves lucky consistently noticed the advertisement. In contrast, the ‘unlucky’ ones flipped right past them. What would you have done?
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