For those of you whose flea-riddled rabbit’s foot and graying pair of lucky Y-fronts are failing to deliver, help may be at hand. According to those thoughtful types who ponder life’s mysteries, it’s official – we make our own luck. British psychologists have spent the last ten years investigating why some of us encounter an endless barrage of unfortunate mishaps while others glide through life without scraping the sides. After much box-ticking and graph plotting they have concluded that luck is a skill that can be taught in much the same way as French grammar or advanced driving.

Take the bankrupt loser whose third wife has just swapped him for a Yorkshire terrier. These new finding suggest that he would be wrong to blame his predicament on the ghostly influences of a few knobbly old rocks hanging about in space or the rudely pointing finger of Fate. Rather, he should accept the consequences of his actions and learn to grab life's opportunities when they come calling. Hardly rocket science you might think but, to be fair, the experts have quantified their theory in four basic principles, which when followed are purported to increase a person’s good fortune.

The First Luck Principle

The first principle of luck is to maximize your chance opportunities. Apparently, lucky people create lots of possibilities for constructive encounters by networking and being well disposed to new experiences. By actively seeking change, they increase the probability of productive openings and life-enhancing experiences. When lucky breaks do arise, these people notice them and act on them effectively. Researchers have managed to illustrate this trait using a simple experiment. Volunteers were given a newspaper and asked to count the number of photographs in it. Those people who considered themselves lucky consistently spotted the message placed on the second page. It read, “Stop counting – there are 43 photographs in this newspaper,” and they were able to give the answer in seconds. The self-confessed unfortunates regularly missed the message and took several minutes to complete the task. So it seems that the lucky ones among us are out there grabbing life’s chances, armed with a good pair of reading glasses.

The Second Luck Principle

Luck principle number two states that fortunate people listen to their intuition and act on gut-feeling. Also they actively boost their receptiveness to these signals using meditation and other mind-clearing techniques. If an empty head is thought to bring luck then perhaps the secret is to sleep more. Statistics suggest that, on average, we are each likely to have a dream every nineteen years that subsequently comes true. If it happens to be the result of next Saturday’s two fifteen from Newmarket – principle proved.

The Third Luck Principle

Lucky people expect good things to happen to them while the unlucky know they will only encounter misery. This is the third principle of luck. Using this power of positive thinking, lucky people tend to persist in the face of difficulties, turning their high expectations into self-fulfilling prophecies. Fortunate people are often unrealistically optimistic about the world but good things tend to happen to them because they live in a less cautious and anxious way and are prepared to take risks. As specialist, Professor Chris French puts it, “This is a nice example of a situation where an irrational belief can be psychologically healthy.” Next time you buy your lottery ticket in the certain knowledge that you will beat the 13,983,815 to one odds and win the jackpot, remember you’re not really indulging in a flippant waste of money. You are actually engaged in a scientifically endorsed self-improvement technique.

The Fourth Luck Principle

The final luck principle involves the turning of bad luck into good – the classic half-full glass scenario. People of a lucky disposition don’t dwell on ill fortune. Invariably, they imagine how much worse things could have been and try to turn the situation to their advantage. South African businessman, Danie de Toit made a speech about the fragility of life and how death can strike at anytime. At the end of the lecture, he popped a peppermint into his mouth and choked to death on it. A luckier man would have viewed this incident as a perfectly timed demonstration of his argument. Unfortunately, he was no longer around to appreciate his master stroke.

Luck School

Dr Richard Wiseman claims to have had great success with his luck principle theory, which he has applied to pupils attending his “Luck School” at the University of Hertfordshire. Formerly an accident prone depressive, luck student Tracy cheerfully regales how she can’t remember the last time she fell down a hole or had concussion. She’s even had a couple of wins on the bingo. This research is now being tested in the business world, with remarkable results. One struggling IT company in Welwyn Garden City managed to increase turnover by 20 percent, month on month after Dr Wiseman had worked his lucky charm on its beleaguered employees.

Watch Out...

Before you merrily toss your rabbit’s paw on the compost heap - a note of caution. However well you manage to take control of your luck, if Fortune decides she just doesn’t like the look of you, there’s not a lot you can do to stop her. British cavalry officer Major Summerford was struck by lightening while fighting in the First World War and subsequently paralyzed from the waist down. After the war he moved to Vancouver where six years later he was struck again and paralyzed down his right side. Two years on, lightening struck a third time and paralyzed him completely. He never recovered properly and died within two years. Four years later lightening destroyed Major Summerford’s grave. Now that’s just rotten luck.

To find out more about the psychology of luck, visit the Luck Project

Louise Dop
Writes for http://www.clearlywrite.co.uk/