Evidence-Based Methods to Become Lucky

In an attempt to discover whether there were genuine personality traits that separate the lucky from the unlucky, Richard Wiseman studied 400 people over a number of years and discovered that there are indeed behavioural differences between the lucky and luckless—and that we can ‘learn’ these traits to improve our luck.

Wiseman states that the lucky “generate good fortune via four basic principles”:

• Creating and noticing chance opportunities.
• Making lucky decisions by listening to their intuition.
• Creating self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations.
• Adopting a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

And by realising this and following three simple techniques, you can improve your luck:

1. Follow your intuition and respect hunches in decision making.
2. Introduce variety into your life.
3. See the positive side of misfortune: imagine how things could be worse.

Of the people that followed this advice, 80% identified improvements to their luck and overall happiness.