How to Get Lucky

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Luck.

Some have it. Some dont. Some of us use four leaf clovers trying to get it. And some of us don’t believe in it.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word luck means “a force that brings good fortune or adversity; the events or circumstances that operate for or against and individual; or a favoring chance.” Im one to believe that the “force” that brings good luck into your life could be YOU. Many people have studied luck to investigate if it’s self-created or just for the lucky. Psychologist Richard Wiseman, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K., did a 10-year study of 400 men and women who considered themselves either extremely lucky or extremely unlucky. He found that lucky people might seem to get all the breaks, but it’s not because they lead magically charmed lives. It’s because they “generate their own good fortune.” Their luck comes from their attitude and behavior—more specifically, their positive thinking and positive actions. Wiseman also discovered that it’s possible to change your luck. When he trained the unlucky people to act and think positive, like the lucky ones, they noticed results within a month: They were happier and had more good things happen for them.

Is Wiseman right? Is luck just something you are born with or can you grow your own garden of four leaf clovers? Here are my thoughts on how to “get lucky” in your life.

How to Get Lucky.

Think Positive. Having a positive outlook on life is a must if you want to become a luckier person. When you dwell on the negative events in your life, you will experience only the negative.  But when you concentrate on positive events, you will begin to feel much happier and luckier. The world is often a mirror of ourselves. By keeping a positive attitude most people will react to you in a similar manner. When you keep a positive attitude towards other people they will be more positive towards you and offer you far more opportunities and help than if you keep a negative attitude. Positive thinking allows you to see the silver lining and create stronger relationships with others who can help you towards your goals.

Don’t wait for your dreams. CHASE them. Don’t wait for opportunities to fall into your lap. Go out and proactively seek the solutions and opportunities you need. Sure what you want might fall into your lap some time in the future. But you if you are proactive then you can find some of them today. Don’t waste any time. Get out there.

Work Hard. The harder you work, the luckier you will become.  Stop waiting around for things to work out on their own. If you want good luck in your life, you’ve got to be willing to give it 100% every day.  No slacking off!  Take some advice from one of America’s most influential founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson,   “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Achieving your goals and dreams can be a lot of work – and you are worth all of it.  Be ready to put in some sweat.

Focus on your Long Term Goals – not how you get there. Plans can and will change. But long term goals don’t.  Happy marriage, talented kids, meaningful work and a successful career – these usually remain constant but how we get there can change over time. Success is never a straight line but a path full of curves and side roads.  If you can learn to zig zag your  way through and swim in uncharted waters, you will be successful.

Surround yourself with positive people. Surround yourself with positive people who lift you up and support you towards your goals. Energy is contagious and you will catch the vibes of those around you whether its positive or negative. Make sure you hang with people who spread feel good energy instead of toxicity!

Keep an open mind. Being open to new people, places, or things. You never know when a chance meeting or new experience could lead to getting lucky.

Take risks and Try NEW things! “If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” If you want more luck, mix it up.  Unlucky people tend to be creatures of habit.  They take the same route to and from work every single day, talk to the same types of people at social functions, and live out the same routine day in and day out.  In contrast, lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives.  They are adventurous.  They take calculated risks.  They are consistently taking action in the face of uncertainty. When you take small risks, either you succeed or you learn something.  Win-Win.  Take the leap even when you can’t see every last detail coming over the horizon.  Remember, if you never act, you will never know for sure, and you will be left standing in the same unlucky spot forever.

Trust Your Gut. Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. They take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities like meditating , journaling, and clearing their mind of other thoughts. When you take time to listen to yourself, its easier to hear what your gut is saying. Practice tuning in and trusting your intuitive thoughts.

Help Others. It’s impossible to help someone else and not get a little help for yourself in the process. The old saying “what goes around comes around” is definitely true in all walks of life, and it comes around when you least expect it.  In life, you get what you put in.  Remember, luck often comes in the form of help when you need it most, and the best way to ‘grease the rails’ for help when you’ll eventually need it is by helping others right now. When you help others, don’t expect something in return.  Just enjoy the experience of helping that person and building a stronger personal relationship.  That stronger relationship will likely be there for you in your moments of challenge.

Look for the opportunity in adversity. You make your own luck when you look at adversity as a source of opportunity. In this world, life cannot hand you a negative moment without a positive lesson hidden deep inside. This isn’t to say that you should be in denial when negative moments happen. But when you can look beyond the negative and see the positive in every challenge, that’s the beginning of a lucky moment. Lucky people employ various  techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. Don’t let life’s challenges bring out the stress in you, let them bring out the BEST in you.

Make the Best of The Hand Your Dealt. There are many things in life that our out of our control, but there are also many, many things we can do to make the most of the life we’ve been given. We’re all uniquely awesome and we all have the ability to do amazing things. Sometimes it can be hard to remember this (especially when we’re feeling down in the dumps), but we really do all have the ability to make our own luck. Some of us have a lot more to overcome than others, but we all have the ability to work hard and seek out opportunities. Making your own luck is difficult; it’s much easier to sit back and hope luck comes your way, but if you don’t go out there and go after it, you could spend your whole life waiting.

BELIEVE in yourself. This is not arrogance, its the secret to success. You must believe in yourself in order to create the life you want. In all walks of life, positive beliefs have the power to become self-fulfilling prophecies. Lucky people believe they CAN be successful. Live each day believing in yourself and in your ability to be successful, and over time you will be.

Do you think luck is something you are born with or something you create? To me, luck is so much more than a four-leaf clover or a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Luck is something we can act on, something we can create, and even something we can share with others. Luck is so many things and it can even be something that’s unique for everyone. Even if we never fully understand luck there is one thing I know for sure: If you followed all the tips above your life would be lucky and blessed.

May the road rise to meet you,

Caroline

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