Change your luck
NOTE: Most of my career has been in public relations with the last 7 years finding a passion for social media, largely due to luck. While this post is much broader view about life, this outlook – when wading into to sea of social media – will help you find more value in the experience. Enjoy!
Some time ago, a friend sent me a 2003 Fast Company article titled “How To Make Your Own Luck.” The piece was about psychologist and professor Richard Wiseman’s (@RichardWiseman) research into luck. Basically his research has indicated that luck is not some supernatural thing that is helped by superstition, but rather based on a person’s attitude guided by whether you consider yourself lucky or unlucky. Since I was a kid, I’ve always considered myself lucky and still do. Here’s what his initial research said about where people thought they fell:
- 50% lucky
- 14% unlucky
- 36% neither lucky nor unlucky
Start with change
My interest in his work led me to Wiseman’s recent book, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot, in which he reviewed years of research to determine tiny things you can do in your life (in less than 59 seconds to change things).
The book is a great read or listen (if you don’t have time to read!). It has some great bits about how to change big things with little changes in your life such as putting a mirror in your kitchen to help you lose weight or why visualizing happiness most times doesn’t lead to happiness. He also outlines that happiness doesn’t flow from success but rather causes it.
The one major theme that stuck with me though was his description of two types of change: circumstantial change and intentional change.
Circumstantial change: “Relatively important changes to one’s circumstances (ex. moving, getting a raise or buying a new car)”
Intentional change: “Changes that require effort to pursue a goal or initiate an activity (ex. joining a new club, starting a different hobby or embarking on a new career)”
Wiseman speaks of how both types of change will lead to happiness in the beginning, but only intentional change offers sustainable happiness. It has to do with hedonistic habituation in that when you buy a new house for example, while you get an initial high from the purchase, it soon fades because the feeling that purchase gives you is the same day after day. On the opposite side of the spectrum, intentional change offers a “constantly changing psychological landscape” with new experiences and challenges, which in turn can lead to sustainable happiness.
Just my luck
While I was reading 59 Seconds, I found out that a regional speaking competition had “Let Us be the Change” as its theme. Lucky, yes. So now I wanted to read Wiseman’s The Luck Factor – Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles. I’ve been under deadlines to complete a few major writing and research projects, and I had very little time to read yet another book (but I did anyway). I did it because I was dealing with writer’s block on a piece due the next day.
It was just my luck that one of the references in Wiseman’s book on self-fulfilling prophecies from the Harvard Business Review fit perfectly in my piece. I love it when that happens, but then again, that happens to me all the time. 
Then the writing continued.
Anyway, I highly encourage you to pick up The Luck Factor to figure things out for yourself, but here’s the formula:
4 principles and 12 subprinciples of luck
- Maximize your chance opportunities
Principle: Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives.
Subprinciples:
Lucky people build and maintain a strong “network of luck.”
Lucky people have a relaxed attitude toward life.
Lucky people are open to new experiences in their lives. - Listen to your lucky hunches
Principle: Lucky people make successful decisions by using their intuitions and gut feelings.
Subprinciples:
Lucky people listen to their gut feelings and hunches.
Lucky people take steps to boost their intuition. - Expect good fortune
Principle: Lucky people’s expectations about the future help them fulfill their dreams and ambitions.
Subprinciples:
Lucky people expect their good luck to continue in the future.
Lucky people attempt to achieve their goals, even if their chances seem slim, and persevere in the face of failure.
Lucky people expect their interactions with others to be lucky and successful. - Turn your bad luck into good
Principle: Lucky people are able to transform their bad luck into good fortune.
Subprinciples:
Lucky people see the positive side of their bad luck.
Lucky people are convinced that ill fortune in their lives will, in the long run, work out for the best.
Lucky people do not dwell on their ill fortune.
Lucky people take constructive steps to prevent more bad luck in the future.
Source: The Luck Factor – Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles, Dr. Richard Wisewan
Nice summary Diane. I tend to agree that luck is more about attitude than anything else. I am happy to be in Edmonton (lucky to be here!) and good things keep happening. :)
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