Psychologist Richard Wiseman spent ten years studying luck using scientific methods. The scientist presented the results of the research in an article entitled "The Luck Factor". It turns out that for some, happy accidents are a common thing, others are not lucky and that's all. But there is nothing supernatural here: luck can be lured by mastering and developing certain skills.
When Richard Wiseman decided to find out why some people are constantly lucky and others are not, he placed an ad in the newspaper and selected 400 participants in the experiment: men and women, some of whom considered themselves lucky, and some were sure of their own chronic bad luck. Wiseman asked them to take tests and keep diaries. And his research showed that people are lucky because of four things.
Lucky people are good at spotting new opportunities
For example, a businessman named Barnett Helzberg did it. At one time, he had a large chain of jewelry stores that he wanted to sell because he was about to retire. And then one day he was walking in New York and heard a woman shout "Mr. Buffett!" Helzberg immediately thought: "What if it's Warren Buffett - the largest US investor?" The man did not know what the billionaire looks like, but he took the opportunity and went to introduce himself. And the stranger really turned out to be Warren Buffett, who some time later bought the Helzberg chain of stores.
And here the point is not only that the person was in the right place at the right time, says the psychologist - Helzberg could stand on this street, but not pay attention to the woman's cry or be afraid to approach one of the richest people in the world.
The fact is that on the second page of the newspaper there was a huge inscription “Don't count! Here are 43 photos."
Conducting the experiment for the second time, the psychologist replaced the text about the photographs with the following: "Stop counting, tell the experimenter that you saw this text and you will win $ 250." And again the same result: the lucky ones saw the message, the unlucky ones didn't, because they were too busy counting the photos.
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An indicative life situation: an "unlucky" person dreams of finding love, for this he goes to parties, does not find love and at the same time misses the opportunity to make friends, because he does not have such a goal. "Lucky" is open to all people, and one of his friendships eventually grows into something more.
Lucky people try new things
According to Richard Wiseman, the chances of getting lucky by the tail increase when people go beyond the usual. The psychologist suggests that you imagine that you are in the center of a large apple orchard. Every day you need to collect a large basket of apples. It doesn't matter where you pick them at first - apples are everywhere. But over time, picking the right amount of apples in the place where you go every day will become more difficult. However, if you go to parts of the garden that you haven't been to before, you are more likely to collect a full basket.
It's the same with luck.
So, one of the participants in Wiseman's study noticed that every time, being in a get-together, he communicates with the same type of people. To unlearn this and make his life more eventful, he, before going somewhere, thought: let's say today he will meet only women in red or only men in gray. This habit helped him make many new and interesting acquaintances.
Another respondent did the same: every time he had to make an important decision, he went from home to work by an unusual route. New impressions, new visual images helped him get rid of the blinkeredness and automatism of thinking, which allowed him to consider the issue from unexpected angles.
The lucky ones know how to perceive unsuccessful moments as successful
According to the psychologist, silver medalists are more unhappy than bronze medalists, because the former think that they just barely had enough to win, and the latter are glad that they won a prize at all.
Wiseman asked the lucky and losers to pretend they were in a bank, when an armed robber breaks in and starts shooting, and one of the bullets hits them in the arm. Then he asked: is this development of events successful or not? People from the “unlucky” group said that it would be a terrible day, that only they, with their happiness, could be in the bank at such an inopportune time. People from the "lucky" group looked at the situation much more positively. One of the participants commented on it this way: “It is fortunate that everything worked out this way, because a bullet could have flown into my head. Besides, I can sell my story to the press and make money."
Lucky people tend to think that life can get worse than it actually does - that is, they win on low expectations. As a result, they feel happier, even if they get into trouble.
Lucky people make their plans come true because they think everything will work out
Richard Wiseman says nothing about this point, instead the psychologist talks about the School of Luck, in which he tries to teach unlucky people to think and act like lucky ones: break the routine, pay attention to life around, imagine that everything turned out well, and so on. …
For about a month, volunteers did his exercises, and 80% of the participants began to feel happier and more successful.
Author: Agata Korovina