full
Stop Wishing, Start Engineering: How to Create Your Own Luck
The Science of Being Lucky: How to Engineer Good Fortune, Consistently Catch Lucky Breaks, and Live a Charmed Life (Mental and Emotional Abundance Book 13) By: Nick Trenton
Hear it Here - https://bit.ly/3I1ynzs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SY6NMHD
Tired of feeling unlucky? Is success always just out of reach? What if luck wasn't random chance, but something you could actually influence?
In this video, we'll dive into Chapter 2 of Nick Trenton's book, "The Science of Being Lucky," and explore the surprising science behind creating your own good fortune.
You'll learn about:
The Law of Attraction: Fact or Fiction? We'll break down the science behind this popular concept and see if it can truly help you attract good luck.
The Power of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Discover how your beliefs can shape your reality and how to harness this power for positive outcomes.
The Link Between Belief and Luck: We'll explore how your mindset can influence opportunities and fortunate circumstances in your life.
Ditch the rabbit's foot and lucky charms! This video will equip you with practical strategies based on psychology and behavioral science to engineer your own luck and live a more fortunate life.
Ready to take control of your success? Get your copy of "The Science of Being Lucky" here: [Link to Book] ([link: https://bit.ly/3I1ynzs])
Leave a comment below and tell us: What are some "lucky" things that have happened in your life?Podcast Intro
Get your copy of The Science of Being Lucky on Amazon today. The audiobook is also available on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible.
To learn more about Nick Trenton and his work, visit bit.ly/NickTrenton.
Transcript
The Science of Being Lucky:
Speaker:How to Engineer Good Fortune,
Speaker:Consistently Catch Lucky Breaks,
Speaker:and Live a Charmed Life (Mental and Emotional Abundance Book 13)
Speaker:Written by
Speaker:Nick Trenton
Speaker:Narrated by Russell Newton.
Speaker:Chapter 2.
Speaker:What to Believe .
Speaker:Whatever you think of it,
Speaker:luck is an extremely valuable commodity
Speaker:because of how people seem to clamor
Speaker:for it.
Speaker:And as is the case with any valuable
Speaker:commodity,
Speaker:there are a whole lot of people who
Speaker:want more of it.
Speaker:We’ve seen that when it comes to
Speaker:luck,
Speaker:there is no way to make random chance
Speaker:occur more frequently for us.
Speaker:There is (sadly!)
Speaker:no charm or magical incantation.
Speaker:But,
Speaker:when it comes to what we can change to
Speaker:improve our outcomes,
Speaker:it turns out that our attitudes,
Speaker:our perceptions and our beliefs make a
Speaker:huge difference,
Speaker:because they impact our behavior.
Speaker:We shouldn’t be at all surprised,
Speaker:therefore,
Speaker:that there are all kinds of methods out
Speaker:there that supposedly increase
Speaker:people’s luck,
Speaker:or otherwise claim to manifest
Speaker:happiness and fulfillment indirectly.
Speaker:Whenever there is a need in a market,
Speaker:solutions will spring up… and not all
Speaker:of them are actually targeted at
Speaker:solving the problem.
Speaker:Some of them are just targeted at
Speaker:selling a solution.
Speaker:This chapter will examine two of the
Speaker:most common methods of courting luck
Speaker:and attempt to determine if they are
Speaker:actually effective at bringing good
Speaker:fortune,
Speaker:or if they are merely giving people the
Speaker:illusion of having more control over
Speaker:their lives and happiness.
Speaker:As we’ve seen,
Speaker:luck and our perception of luck are two
Speaker:different things.
Speaker:In this book,
Speaker:we’re attempting to genuinely move
Speaker:the needle,
Speaker:rather than go through the motions of
Speaker:ritual simply because they make us feel
Speaker:better.
Speaker:As the chapter title notes,
Speaker:these are methods that may have been
Speaker:seen on outlets such as Oprah,
Speaker:or other shows that tend to hop onto
Speaker:new trends without regard for any
Speaker:scientific support.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:they’re buzzwords and cozy ideas that
Speaker:might seem appealing on the surface…
Speaker:that is,
Speaker:until you dig into the science.
Speaker:There may indeed be truly effective
Speaker:ways to be luckier in life,
Speaker:but are these popular notions them?
Speaker:Let’s dive in.
Speaker:The Law Of Attraction.
Speaker:You’ve almost certainly encountered
Speaker:this principle before,
Speaker:whether you know it or not. The Law Of
Speaker:Attraction.is the belief that your
Speaker:thoughts by themselves can shape the
Speaker:world around you;
Speaker:that we can color our thoughts with
Speaker:emotion and feeling and those thoughts
Speaker:will then “manifest” themselves in
Speaker:our lives.
Speaker:The idea is that if you hold a certain
Speaker:end point in your mind and visualize it
Speaker:vividly,
Speaker:you magnetically draw that very thing
Speaker:towards you.
Speaker:You might think about having a life
Speaker:filled with loving relationships and
Speaker:profound happiness,
Speaker:and over time,
Speaker:you will supposedly manifest love and
Speaker:happiness in your life simply because
Speaker:you desire it and think about it.
Speaker:Importantly,
Speaker:concrete actions are not really part of
Speaker:the process.
Speaker:The universe is thought to run on a
Speaker:“law” beyond conventional cause and
Speaker:effect,
Speaker:and that by adopting the energy,
Speaker:vibration or frequency of a particular
Speaker:goal,
Speaker:one naturally aligns with it.
Speaker:There are many approaches and
Speaker:definitions to this approach.
Speaker:A Google search of the Law of
Speaker:Attraction will yield all kinds of
Speaker:results claiming that it can make a
Speaker:real difference in your life.
Speaker:The We Shape Life Organization breaks
Speaker:the method down into seven simple steps
Speaker:- 1.
Speaker:Relax your mind through 5 to 10 minutes
Speaker:of meditation.
Speaker:2.
Speaker:Think about exactly what you want,
Speaker:creating a clear and detailed image in
Speaker:your mind.
Speaker:Don’t allow yourself to have any
Speaker:self-doubt.
Speaker:3.
Speaker:Ask the universe for what you want.
Speaker:4.
Speaker:Write your wishes down and feel them
Speaker:happening to you.
Speaker:5.
Speaker:Feel that your wishes are coming true.
Speaker:Think,
Speaker:speak,
Speaker:and act as if they already have.
Speaker:6.
Speaker:Show gratitude by recording all of the
Speaker:blessings the universe has bestowed
Speaker:upon you.
Speaker:7.
Speaker:Be patient and trust the universe.
Speaker:You can characterize this process
Speaker:however you want.
Speaker:But then again,
Speaker:visualization and positive affirmations
Speaker:don’t sound particularly promising to
Speaker:the skeptical mind,
Speaker:either,
Speaker:and we’ve already learned that there
Speaker:is some merit to that method.
Speaker:The real question is,
Speaker:is there any hard evidence to also
Speaker:support the Law of Attraction as a
Speaker:legitimate method for improving one’s
Speaker:life?
Speaker:Or is it pseudoscience that masquerades
Speaker:as self-help?
Speaker:In 1999,
Speaker:Lien Pham and Shelley Taylor of the
Speaker:University of California carried out a
Speaker:study to test the efficacy claims of
Speaker:the Law of Attraction.
Speaker:They didn’t test the exact tenets of
Speaker:the Law of Attraction,
Speaker:but essentially tested fantastical
Speaker:thinking.
Speaker:Fantastical thinking can be thought of
Speaker:as thinking about positive daydreams
Speaker:and fantasies and expecting that this
Speaker:directly impacts the external world.
Speaker:As you can imagine,
Speaker:it’s no more sound than believing
Speaker:that a pair of stinky socks has a
Speaker:connection to whether you win at the
Speaker:casino.
Speaker:But in the interests of testing the
Speaker:idea empirically,
Speaker:the researchers broke up the study’s
Speaker:participants into three groups -
Speaker:•Group 1 - Students were asked to
Speaker:spend a few minutes each day
Speaker:visualizing with a clear image how
Speaker:great it would feel to score highly on
Speaker:an important mid-term exam that was
Speaker:coming up in a few days.
Speaker:•Group 2 - Students were asked to
Speaker:spend a few minutes each day
Speaker:visualizing when,
Speaker:where,
Speaker:and how they intended to study for the
Speaker:exam.
Speaker:•Group 3 - This was the control group.
Speaker:Students were not asked to visualize
Speaker:anything to do with the exam.
Speaker:The results were telling.
Speaker:The students from Group 1 studied the
Speaker:least and got the lowest grades on the
Speaker:exam.
Speaker:On the bright side,
Speaker:they did feel better about themselves
Speaker:during the process,
Speaker:but that is a small silver lining
Speaker:considering that their tangible results
Speaker:were contrary to what they had thought
Speaker:about.
Speaker:The results might also offer insight
Speaker:into the many people claiming that the
Speaker:law of attraction has worked for them.
Speaker:Students in Group 2 who visualized
Speaker:themselves studying actually prepared
Speaker:better,
Speaker:studied more,
Speaker:and earned higher marks on the exam
Speaker:than the students from the other groups.
Speaker:They also reported that they were less
Speaker:stressed about the exam.
Speaker:Pham and Taylor’s study is another
Speaker:point of evidence supporting the
Speaker:benefits of visualization while
Speaker:refuting that the Law of Attraction has
Speaker:an ability to bring us benefit or good
Speaker:fortune.
Speaker:A simple belief in change attracting
Speaker:good luck may not do much good by
Speaker:itself,
Speaker:but visualizing exactly what that
Speaker:change entails does help.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:one study is certainly insufficient to
Speaker:rule out the Law of Attraction.
Speaker:A 2015 study published in the European
Speaker:Journal of Social Psychology attempted
Speaker:to measure the effects of implementing
Speaker:the Law of Attraction for students to
Speaker:enter romantic relationships with their
Speaker:crushes.
Speaker:A team of four researchers (Oettingen,
Speaker:Kappes,
Speaker:Guttenberg,
Speaker:and Gollwitzer)
Speaker:asked the participants to imagine what
Speaker:would happen in various scenarios where
Speaker:they interacted with their romantic
Speaker:crush in some way.
Speaker:The researchers rated their fantasies
Speaker:on a spectrum from highly negative to
Speaker:highly positive,
Speaker:with some of the positive fantasies
Speaker:including such cliches as making eye
Speaker:contact across the room and knowing
Speaker:that it was love at first sight.
Speaker:The fantasies that were rated more
Speaker:negatively included some particularly
Speaker:devastating thoughts,
Speaker:with one girl describing her
Speaker:daydreaming thought as,
Speaker:“We are both free and single,
Speaker:he turns to me,
Speaker:smiles and asks how I am.
Speaker:For reasons that I still do not fully
Speaker:understand,
Speaker:I explain that I already have a
Speaker:boyfriend."
Speaker:Five months later,
Speaker:the researchers reconnected with the
Speaker:study participants to see what had
Speaker:happened with their crushes in that
Speaker:time.
Speaker:On average,
Speaker:those students who had fantasized
Speaker:positively about their crushes had been
Speaker:less likely to be forthcoming about
Speaker:their feelings to the crush,
Speaker:or to otherwise pursue a relationship
Speaker:with them in some way,
Speaker:relative to those who had imagined
Speaker:things working out poorly.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Much like the positive thinkers from
Speaker:the first study,
Speaker:these people may have felt better about
Speaker:themselves by fantasizing,
Speaker:daydreaming,
Speaker:and utilizing the Law of Attraction,
Speaker:but their positive thinking failed to
Speaker:manifest itself tangibly in their
Speaker:actual lives.
Speaker:Wishing for luck brought nothing but
Speaker:complacency.
Speaker:Could it be that fantasizing provided a
Speaker:kind of soothing temporary
Speaker:pseudo-outcome that made people believe
Speaker:that taking positive action was less
Speaker:urgent?
Speaker:One of the researchers from the last
Speaker:study,
Speaker:Gabriele Oettingen,
Speaker:conducted another study measuring how
Speaker:positive thinking about career
Speaker:advancement correlated with actual
Speaker:career advancement over two years.
Speaker:Senior college students were asked to
Speaker:note how often they fantasized about
Speaker:getting their dream job after
Speaker:graduation.
Speaker:When Oettingen followed up with the
Speaker:participants three years later,
Speaker:she learned that the students who had
Speaker:fantasized more frequently about career
Speaker:success had submitted fewer job
Speaker:applications,
Speaker:received fewer job offers,
Speaker:and were working for smaller salaries.
Speaker:It’s as though the fantasies were not
Speaker:a stimulus for positive change but
Speaker:rather a replacement for it.
Speaker:Based on the combined results of these
Speaker:three studies,
Speaker:it seems that the Law of Attraction
Speaker:may,
Speaker:in reality,
Speaker:be detrimental,
Speaker:not helpful,
Speaker:in manifesting what we desire to
Speaker:achieve in our actual lives.
Speaker:Let’s unpack why.
Speaker:Thinking positively makes us feel
Speaker:better,
Speaker:but perhaps feeling better leads to
Speaker:passivity.
Speaker:It’s like using a Band-Aid and
Speaker:reducing the pain of a symptom while
Speaker:ignoring the cause of the pain itself.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:feeling as if we already have what we
Speaker:desire or that we can attain it through
Speaker:good luck will make us less motivated
Speaker:and less proactive about pursuing our
Speaker:goals and desires. The Law Of
Speaker:Attraction.is about belief and thought,
Speaker:and even visualization emphasizes
Speaker:process and detail.
Speaker:Proponents of the law of attraction are
Speaker:sometimes explicitly told to relax and
Speaker:assume that the problem is already
Speaker:being solved behind the scenes.
Speaker:This reduces tension and urgency,
Speaker:which may feel better in the short term.
Speaker:What it doesn’t do,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:is move anyone forward.
Speaker:So what can we do to take advantage of
Speaker:positive thinking and the power of our
Speaker:minds?
Speaker:And how can we do this without
Speaker:succumbing to pleasant fantasy and
Speaker:wishful thinking?
Speaker:Wishing or fantasizing that we reach
Speaker:our goals and attain all of our desires
Speaker:without action doesn’t seem to do
Speaker:anything but harm us.
Speaker:But visualizing taking the actions to
Speaker:make those things happen actually makes
Speaker:us more likely to be proactive.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:the quality and content of our
Speaker:fantasies matter.
Speaker:While our positive ideas,
Speaker:thoughts,
Speaker:and dreams can help us determine what
Speaker:we want,
Speaker:by themselves,
Speaker:they don’t necessarily lead to action
Speaker:or good luck.
Speaker:The Law Of Attraction.is still being
Speaker:pushed because people want to believe
Speaker:that they can achieve everything they
Speaker:desire without putting in the time and
Speaker:effort to actually make it happen,
Speaker:but unfortunately,
Speaker:that remains an unrealistic and
Speaker:impossible dream.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:entertaining and indulging the lazy
Speaker:human desire for reward without effort
Speaker:may make it even more likely that
Speaker:you’ll end up with an outcome you
Speaker:don’t want.
Speaker:The bottom line is,
Speaker:creating “good luck” in our lives
Speaker:is really more about creating the
Speaker:conditions for positive things to
Speaker:happen to us.
Speaker:If you want to work at your dream job
Speaker:and make a higher salary,
Speaker:you’ll need to put in the effort to
Speaker:apply for jobs,
Speaker:work hard,
Speaker:and build up your skills and networking
Speaker:connections to realistically qualify
Speaker:yourself for that dream job.
Speaker:How do you apply the method of
Speaker:visualization and affirmation to
Speaker:reaching goals that are more abstract
Speaker:than shooting free throws better,
Speaker:or not getting stressed out about
Speaker:taking a test?
Speaker:Easy - embrace the process or journey
Speaker:of reaching your goals,
Speaker:rather than focusing on the destination.
Speaker:A few examples will clarify.
Speaker:Let’s say you really want to get into
Speaker:better shape so that you can show off
Speaker:your swimsuit body on your next
Speaker:tropical vacation.
Speaker:Imagining yourself with the body you
Speaker:want won’t help you get it,
Speaker:but visualizing yourself working out in
Speaker:the gym or hiking a nearby mountain
Speaker:path just might increase the chances
Speaker:that you actually do those things.
Speaker:Repeating self-affirmations that you
Speaker:are disciplined and hard-working and
Speaker:that you will stick to your exercise
Speaker:regimen — even on the days you feel
Speaker:tired or discouraged — can build your
Speaker:belief in yourself to accomplish your
Speaker:goals.
Speaker:Again,
Speaker:you are creating the conditions for
Speaker:luck,
Speaker:not the positive outcome itself.
Speaker:You are imagining the intermediate
Speaker:steps that carry you to a goal,
Speaker:rather than focusing on the goal itself
Speaker:with no thought for the practical way
Speaker:that the goal comes about.
Speaker:Fantasy and daydreaming can be useful.
Speaker:But daydreams mean nothing if they’re
Speaker:not tethered to reality somehow.
Speaker:A fantastically imagined visualization
Speaker:might yield valuable insights or help
Speaker:you better understand what you want.
Speaker:But when you’re done daydreaming,
Speaker:you’ll still need to grapple with
Speaker:material reality to make the changes
Speaker:necessary.
Speaker:If you want to give yourself a mental
Speaker:boost,
Speaker:visualize yourself working through the
Speaker:process of reaching that destination or
Speaker:reward.
Speaker:The real magic is in building up the
Speaker:internal belief that you are capable of
Speaker:creating the conditions for “luck,”
Speaker:not that your beliefs can manifest luck
Speaker:into your life in and of themselves.
Speaker:This is really an extreme external
Speaker:locus of control dressed up as an
Speaker:internal locus of control.
Speaker:Good luck doesn’t come around just by
Speaker:wishing and waiting for it,
Speaker:as much as we may want it to.
Speaker:The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
Speaker:Robert K. Merton,
Speaker:a 20th-century sociologist,
Speaker:may have coined this term,
Speaker:but examples of this can be found in
Speaker:literature as far back as ancient
Speaker:Greece and ancient India.
Speaker:The concept is one that is familiar to
Speaker:most people,
Speaker:as they’ve likely witnessed it
Speaker:unfolding in their own lives.
Speaker:The self-fulfilling prophecy is
Speaker:basically a prediction that directly or
Speaker:indirectly causes itself to become true
Speaker:due to positive feedback between belief
Speaker:and behavior.
Speaker:Put simply,
Speaker:this is the idea that a positive or
Speaker:negative prophecy,
Speaker:strongly held belief,
Speaker:or delusion can sufficiently influence
Speaker:people so that their reactions
Speaker:ultimately fulfill the prophecy itself.
Speaker:The classic story of Oedipus,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:wherein a father had a prophecy that
Speaker:his son was going to kill him,
Speaker:sent him away to prevent it,
Speaker:but the sending away resulted in the
Speaker:very series of actions that led to his
Speaker:death.
Speaker:A more everyday example is a person who
Speaker:is so worried about making a bad first
Speaker:impression at an interview that they
Speaker:stay up all night stressing about it,
Speaker:oversleep,
Speaker:and then make a bad impression at the
Speaker:interview the next morning because
Speaker:they’re tired and anxious.
Speaker:This leads to the behavioral
Speaker:confirmation event,
Speaker:in which behaviors that are influenced
Speaker:by expectations cause those very
Speaker:expectations to come true.
Speaker:You may go to an interview,
Speaker:completely blow it,
Speaker:and come home thinking,
Speaker:“see?
Speaker:I knew it."
Speaker:If you think about it,
Speaker:this isn’t a hard idea to grasp.
Speaker:If someone expects something of you,
Speaker:whether it be good or bad,
Speaker:you will live up to that expectation
Speaker:more often than not.
Speaker:We are no longer in the murky realms of
Speaker:luck and probability,
Speaker:but simply playing,
Speaker:again,
Speaker:with perception and expectation –
Speaker:which turn out to play a massive role
Speaker:in what we think of as luck.
Speaker:If you believe you have bad luck,
Speaker:you will act in a way that will ensure
Speaker:bad luck will enter your life,
Speaker:and so on.
Speaker:You create the cycle in which you live
Speaker:through the power of your thoughts and
Speaker:intentions.
Speaker:I can still remember my very first work
Speaker:presentation that I had to deliver to a
Speaker:group of colleagues about some research
Speaker:I had done.
Speaker:Logically,
Speaker:I knew that my work was fine and that
Speaker:all my data was correct.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:this wasn’t as easy to convince
Speaker:myself of in practice.
Speaker:I was so certain that I would forget a
Speaker:point or speak too quietly and make a
Speaker:complete fool of myself.
Speaker:On the day,
Speaker:I found myself trying to do the
Speaker:complete opposite.
Speaker:This resulted in a speech that was
Speaker:mostly yelled,
Speaker:far too long,
Speaker:and excruciatingly slow.
Speaker:I looked and sounded insane.
Speaker:This is a perfect example of how a
Speaker:belief,
Speaker:particularly a negative one,
Speaker:can focus someone’s attention and
Speaker:cause the very thing they feared to
Speaker:begin with.
Speaker:In the case of luck,
Speaker:if you believe you have bad luck,
Speaker:you will ignore every positive thing
Speaker:that occurs and focus blindly on
Speaker:everything that is negative.
Speaker:This is something we all do.
Speaker:You may have had a perfectly ordinary
Speaker:day at work,
Speaker:but as soon as you make one error,
Speaker:it suddenly feels like your whole day
Speaker:starts to turn into a disaster.
Speaker:Often,
Speaker:this is because focusing on the
Speaker:negatives will cause you to act in a
Speaker:way that is contrary to what generates
Speaker:good luck.
Speaker:Instead of being open-minded and
Speaker:willing to explore new possibilities,
Speaker:you let tunnel vision take over,
Speaker:and your fear shuts you down.
Speaker:A self-fulfilling prophesy can be so
Speaker:powerful that it even causes us to
Speaker:interpret positive outcomes as negative
Speaker:ones,
Speaker:if it means they align with our
Speaker:catastrophic predictions.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:you may be so convinced of your bad
Speaker:luck in love that you come away from a
Speaker:neutral or even positive first date and
Speaker:then deliberately decide it was a flop,
Speaker:and never contact the person again.
Speaker:They disappear from your life,
Speaker:and you will never know if they might
Speaker:have been the love of your life had you
Speaker:waited to go on a second date.
Speaker:You tell others,
Speaker:“I’m unlucky in love."
Speaker:And because you believe so,
Speaker:it’s true.
Speaker:The funny thing is how closely this
Speaker:resembles the law of attraction,
Speaker:while essentially being the very
Speaker:opposite!
Speaker:Bad luck isn’t always centered on an
Speaker:event or situation.
Speaker:Plenty of people are certain that they
Speaker:have a particular object that is the
Speaker:sole reason behind every “bad luck”
Speaker:incident in their lives.
Speaker:Perhaps it’s a pair of socks (or
Speaker:absence thereof)
Speaker:that you just know is behind all your
Speaker:troubles,
Speaker:or a song that is always playing when
Speaker:you have a particularly embarrassing
Speaker:moment.
Speaker:Some people are convinced they are
Speaker:forever jinxed by their unattractive
Speaker:name,
Speaker:a weird physical feature,
Speaker:or some random fact of their past.
Speaker:Whatever it is,
Speaker:if you believe something will give or
Speaker:bring you bad luck,
Speaker:you will undoubtedly begin to act
Speaker:differently around it,
Speaker:fixate on it in an unhealthy way,
Speaker:and ultimately act differently than you
Speaker:normally would.
Speaker:You may feel that your acne is
Speaker:single-handedly ruining your social
Speaker:life,
Speaker:and so you avoid eye contact,
Speaker:and squirm uncomfortably when people
Speaker:look at you – which is a great way to
Speaker:ruin your social life!
Speaker:It is because you act differently and
Speaker:out of your normal flow or behavior
Speaker:that things may seem to just fall
Speaker:apart,
Speaker:just like an athlete who overthinks his
Speaker:game strategy and ends up ruining it
Speaker:all.
Speaker:If you believe you have great luck,
Speaker:you are more likely to create it —
Speaker:not out of thin air,
Speaker:and not by magic,
Speaker:but by not driving away beneficial
Speaker:situations.
Speaker:The lucky rabbit’s foot you carry in
Speaker:your pocket has no magical powers,
Speaker:but if it causes you to smile,
Speaker:think positively and have faith that
Speaker:you can come up with proactive and
Speaker:creative solutions,
Speaker:then it is,
Speaker:in effect,
Speaker:a lucky rabbit’s foot.
Speaker:The power of belief.
Speaker:Tennessee Williams once said,
Speaker:“luck is believing you are lucky."
Speaker:It’s a heavy irony.
Speaker:Wishful thinking doesn’t create good
Speaker:outcomes,
Speaker:but believing it does will.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:it’s worth believing in luck,
Speaker:despite its not existing!
Speaker:Rather than a supernatural force or a
Speaker:random event,
Speaker:luck is best thought of as a subjective
Speaker:interpretation of neutral events that
Speaker:has a concrete influence over how those
Speaker:events play out.
Speaker:A belief in luck can lead to a
Speaker:“virtuous cycle” – i.e.,
Speaker:a loop of confirmation that ends up
Speaker:creating the narrative it believes
Speaker:exists.
Speaker:Counterintuitively,
Speaker:believing you are lucky makes you work
Speaker:harder and make better plans.
Speaker:Even better,
Speaker:believing you are lucky makes you pay
Speaker:more attention to emerging
Speaker:opportunities and possible solutions so
Speaker:that you’re better able to capitalize
Speaker:than those who believe they have rotten
Speaker:luck.
Speaker:Richard Wiseman at the University of
Speaker:Herefordshire is the author of the 2003
Speaker:book The Luck Factor.
Speaker:He conducted an experiment where he
Speaker:asked participants to count pictures in
Speaker:a newspaper.
Speaker:At the same time,
Speaker:he “hid” the solution to the puzzle
Speaker:on the second page of that newspaper.
Speaker:He noticed that the participants who
Speaker:considered themselves lucky people were
Speaker:more likely to notice the solution than
Speaker:those who considered themselves cursed
Speaker:with bad luck.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:in a weird plot twist,
Speaker:the people who thought they were
Speaker:lucky… were!
Speaker:You may start to notice these effects
Speaker:in people around you.
Speaker:Someone may plan ahead and pack tissues
Speaker:in their bag and,
Speaker:when someone gets a nosebleed,
Speaker:triumphantly presents the tissues and
Speaker:says,
Speaker:“look at that!
Speaker:How lucky."
Speaker:You may notice that the pessimistic
Speaker:people who always grumble and say,
Speaker:“huh,
Speaker:just my luck!” are also the ones who
Speaker:seem to do very little to improve their
Speaker:situation,
Speaker:or actively blame the outcomes of their
Speaker:failure to act on some supernatural
Speaker:force that has a mysterious grudge on
Speaker:them.
Speaker:Such people may even unconsciously
Speaker:jeopardize themselves and invite
Speaker:failure just so they can confirm their
Speaker:belief in themselves as unfortunate.
Speaker:Economist Alan Kirman of the École des
Speaker:Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in
Speaker:Paris has conducted a few studies into
Speaker:the random things we consider lucky
Speaker:breaks,
Speaker:like finding a parking spot.
Speaker:He discovered that people might be
Speaker:trapped in bad luck spirals without
Speaker:consciously knowing what’s happening.
Speaker:Our perceptions and attributions can
Speaker:compound and reinforce themselves via
Speaker:our behavior,
Speaker:so that we eventually start to feel
Speaker:like the world really is against us –
Speaker:even though we are the ones bringing
Speaker:about those outcomes.
Speaker:People might,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:believe that certain people are just
Speaker:lucky when it comes to spotting great
Speaker:parking spaces,
Speaker:but believe this to such an extent that
Speaker:they actually “learn to choose the
Speaker:spots far back and leave the spots for
Speaker:other spots for the guys who are
Speaker:‘lucky.’” Perception really
Speaker:matters!
Speaker:In addition to using visualization to
Speaker:imagine yourself taking concrete steps
Speaker:towards your goal,
Speaker:try to incorporate affirmations to
Speaker:cement a belief in yourself as a lucky
Speaker:person.
Speaker:Don’t overthink it.
Speaker:Even if you don’t actually believe
Speaker:it,
Speaker:tell yourself that pretending to
Speaker:believe will still have the desired
Speaker:effect.
Speaker:Regularly tell yourself things like -
Speaker:“I’m a lucky person."
Speaker:“This obstacle is obviously only a
Speaker:temporary glitch."
Speaker:“I’m pretty resourceful and good at
Speaker:spotting opportunities."
Speaker:“There’s always a silver lining."
Speaker:“Good things tend to happen to me."
Speaker:The people who consider themselves
Speaker:lucky?
Speaker:Kirman discovered that they seemed to
Speaker:share a constellation of attitudes and
Speaker:perspectives that included a general
Speaker:optimism,
Speaker:a determination not to dwell on
Speaker:mistakes from the past,
Speaker:and a willingness to listen to their
Speaker:gut intuition.
Speaker:Richard Wiseman has even created a
Speaker:“Luck School” where he trains
Speaker:people to cultivate these precise
Speaker:attitudes.
Speaker:Remarkably,
Speaker:80% of the “unlucky” people who
Speaker:attended this school claimed afterwards
Speaker:that they were happier and luckier.
Speaker:Finally,
Speaker:there is a habit that self-described
Speaker:lucky people tend to indulge in,
Speaker:and that’s a particular
Speaker:interpretation of even negative events.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:if a car races by you in the road and
Speaker:narrowly avoids running you down,
Speaker:you could say,
Speaker:“I’m so unlucky,
Speaker:I almost died!” or you could say,
Speaker:“How lucky am I?
Speaker:I could have died but didn’t!"
Speaker:This is so-called counterfactual
Speaker:thinking,
Speaker:and it’s associated with being more
Speaker:grateful,
Speaker:being happier and feeling that you’re
Speaker:luckier in general.
Speaker:It’s the willingness to put a light
Speaker:rosy tint on your interpretation of
Speaker:events,
Speaker:which doesn’t exactly change those
Speaker:events,
Speaker:but may well influence subsequent
Speaker:events.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:if you think you are lucky to have
Speaker:escaped death,
Speaker:you may feel so much more grateful for
Speaker:your life,
Speaker:and the “second chance” you’ve
Speaker:been given,
Speaker:that you go out of your way to take
Speaker:care of yourself and avoid risks.
Speaker:You thereby prolong your life and may
Speaker:actually live longer,
Speaker:especially when compared to a person
Speaker:who unconsciously felt that death was
Speaker:always lurking around the corner.
Speaker:Imagining an alternative life path in
Speaker:which you didn’t experience a lucky
Speaker:outcome you currently enjoy summons up
Speaker:powerful feelings of gratitude and
Speaker:optimism.
Speaker:And it comes from simply reframing
Speaker:events to focus on what is actually
Speaker:quote fortunate already.
Speaker:At the start of this chapter,
Speaker:we investigated whether something like
Speaker:the law of attraction actually has any
Speaker:evidence to back it up.
Speaker:We found none.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:if the law of attraction inadvertently
Speaker:made you believe that you were a
Speaker:luckier person than most,
Speaker:and this then caused you to subtly but
Speaker:powerfully shift your behavior in the
Speaker:world.
Speaker:One could then argue that belief in the
Speaker:theory had some positive outcomes,
Speaker:even if the theory itself is worthless.
Speaker:Lady Luck turns out to be a tricky
Speaker:customer after all!
Speaker:Takeaways -
Speaker:•There are two popular ideas worth
Speaker:exploring when it comes to the concept
Speaker:of luck - the law of attraction,
Speaker:and the idea of a self-fulfilling
Speaker:prophesy.
Speaker:Research into the effectiveness of the
Speaker:law of attraction (or wishful thinking)
Speaker:yields no support,
Speaker:and indicates that fantasy can actually
Speaker:undermine success by making us less
Speaker:likely to take useful action.
Speaker:•A self-fulfilling prophecy is a
Speaker:prediction that directly or indirectly
Speaker:causes itself to become true due to
Speaker:positive feedback between belief and
Speaker:behavior.
Speaker:It proves how powerful belief can be.
Speaker:•If you believe you are a lucky
Speaker:person,
Speaker:you are more likely to create that
Speaker:reality yourself — not out of thin
Speaker:air,
Speaker:or by magic,
Speaker:but because you are proactively taking
Speaker:steps to make that outcome a reality.
Speaker:•Robert Wiseman and Alan Kirman have
Speaker:independently discovered that being
Speaker:lucky may come down to believing that
Speaker:you are lucky.
Speaker:•Lucky people do visualize,
Speaker:yet they tend to imagine not the
Speaker:outcome but the performance of the
Speaker:practical steps needed to reach that
Speaker:outcome.
Speaker:They tend to be positive and
Speaker:optimistic,
Speaker:easily forget past mistakes,
Speaker:trust their gut feelings,
Speaker:and put a positive interpretation on
Speaker:events by imagining how things could
Speaker:have been so much worse.
Speaker:This,
Speaker:in effect,
Speaker:means that people who believe they’re
Speaker:lucky,
Speaker:are!
Speaker:This has been
Speaker:The Science of Being Lucky:
Speaker:How to Engineer Good Fortune,
Speaker:Consistently Catch Lucky Breaks,
Speaker:and Live a Charmed Life (Mental and Emotional Abundance Book 13) Written by
Speaker:Nick Trenton
Speaker:Narrated by Russell Newton.
