Another definition of luck is, ‘serendipitous events occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way, a kind of ‘happy accident’ that results in something valuable.’
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist and author of The Luck Factor has spent years researching luck and serendipity. His aim was to find out why some people seem to be luckier than others. Entertainer, Derren Brown had a similar aim when he conducted a massive experiment about luck involving a whole town over a three month period. Both Richard Wiseman’s and Derren Brown’s conclusions may surprise you.
In one of the Derren Brown Experiment programmes which aired in NZ, he used the whole town of Todmorden in the UK to find out what makes some people lucky, while others only attract misfortune. If you missed the programme or would like to watch it again you can find it here.
I highly recommend the programme as it has much to offer on so many levels; intrigue, the power of our own minds, the power of group consciousness, how attitude affects our luck. It was also extremely entertaining!
Derren’s conclusion is that people create their own luck
Richard Wiseman drew a similar conclusion. He judged that some people are not luckier, just quicker to spot and seize opportunities in serendipitous situations.
So if, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”, if you create your own luck and if, in order to be more lucky you need to spot and seize opportunities, what specifically can you do to increase your luck factor? As far I can tell there are four things you can do that will increase the opportunity for you to experience happy coincidences - or luck.
1. Chill out
Wiseman found that unlucky people tend to be more tense than lucky people. Anxiety or stress disrupts the ability to notice unexpected and possibly lucky events or occurrences. The reason for this is that when we’re stressed we operate using foveal vision (sometimes called tunnel vision). Our gaze is directed toward the centre of our vision and this often means we miss things on the periphery; people, situations or events that might increase our luck factor.
When we’re relaxed we use our peripheral vision
Peripheral vision enables you to take in the whole panorama of what’s happening in front of and around you. Being in peripheral vision is useful in many circumstances;
• driving a car so you see the whole flow of traffic and not just the bumper of the car in front of you
• presenting and training so you can see the reactions of the whole audience
• competitive sports so you’re aware of movements of opponents and team members
I have a quick and simple exercise at the end of this article that will help you trigger your peripheral vision. It makes total sense that you’re more likely to see opportunities if you’re relaxed and have expansive vision, than if you’re locked into foveal vision and focused in a very narrow field.
2. Positive Beliefs
Do you believe you’re lucky or unlucky? It’s important not to underestimate the part that beliefs play in how lucky you might be. This was almost painfully illustrated in Derren Brown’s experiment with Wayne, the local Todmorden butcher. Wayne believed he had nothing but bad luck. With this belief, Wayne was unable to even recognise three very ‘lucky’ opportunities specifically placed in his way.
What do you believe about your luck?
Basically beliefs act as filters of your experience; if you believe you’re lucky, you’re more likely to recognise and take up opportunities than if you believe you’re unlucky. (You can read more about the impact of beliefs in my article, Is What You’re Believing Holding You Back? )
The lucky charm phenomena
Many people have a lucky mascot of some kind; something they associate with good luck. Perhaps the person has experienced good luck while they’ve had the object with them and then associated their luck with that object. Others may be tempted to buy a ‘lucky’ charm such as a four-leafed clover or lucky rabbits foot (even though it wasn’t too lucky for the rabbit!) and bestow the concept on luck upon that item. It’s the belief in the power of that item to bring good luck that automatically increases the chances of it being lucky. If you believe lucky charms work to increase your luck factor, I say go for it!
3. Great Expectations
Your thoughts create your life. So as well as having positive beliefs it’s important to expect good things. If this isn’t a habit for you yet, you could always begin with a simple exercise to refocus your thinking. One such exercise is to look for three positive occurrences each day. Write these things down somewhere, in your diary, journal or even on your computer. The writing is an important component of this exercise because once you’ve been doing it for a few days you’ll notice yourself looking for good things to write about; you’ll begin creating positive expectations.
4. Seize opportunities
Before you can even seize opportunities you have to be open to them. The more open you are to new ideas or ways of doing things, the more likely it is that you’ll see those opportunities. But even if you’re chilled out, have positive beliefs and great expectations your luck is more likely to increase if you take advantage of serendipitous events by seizing the opportunities they create.
The word serendipity implies ‘happy coincidence’. So thinking too much about where your actions might lead and then deciding whether or not you should take action is contrary to attracting luck. You can’t know in advance where actions or situations will lead you, yet there are many instances where just ‘going with the flow’ or following your ‘gut feel’ have lead to serendipitous events. Coincidences are like that!
Luck is only apparent when you’ve experienced it
I know this is stating the obvious, but the point is that it’s only in hindsight that you’re able to connect the dots and determine how your stroke of luck came about. Without the expectation of and belief that you attract good luck it’s unlikely you will. And if you’re not reasonably relaxed and ready to recognise and seize opportunities, then there won’t be any dots to connect!
So open your mind to to the possibility of having more luck and no doubt you will!
And in case you need something else to improve your luck factor - I wish you all the luck in the world!
Peripheral Vision Exercise
Accessing peripheral vision provides you with an opportunity to experience a state of heightened sensory awareness. Better still, it only takes a minute!
Directions:
- Keep your head level. Find a point in front of you and slightly above normal eye level, or focus your attention on the centre of your forehead.
- Fix your gaze on that point. Notice whatever details you can about that particular point.
- Loosen your jaw.
- Allow your mind to relax and let your awareness expand out to the sides while still looking at that spot.
- Notice what you can see, hear and feel in the outside edge of that space.
- Continue to expand your awareness all the way out to the sides. You may notice that you can see things that are slightly behind you!
- Once you notice your breathing change, lower your eyes to normal level and notice how your state has become calmer and how much more expansive your vision has become.
- Repeat whenever you would like to feel calmer and/or have more expansive awareness.
