How to Increase Your Luck: Proven Strategies to Seize Opportunities
See how your superpowers of curiosity and openness can turn your luck around instantly
Think leprechauns and lottery winners are born with the magic touch? Not so! Research shows a lucky streak isn’t an innate gift, but rather something we can all foster by shifting our mindset, increasing our optimism and embracing new experiences. Here, researchers and psychologists share the proven ways to spark serendipity and reap greater joy every day.
Take the ‘bank robber test’
Imagine you’re at the bank when robbers hold it up and you get shot in the arm. Are you lucky or unlucky? When researchers posed this question to study participants, they found that people who considered themselves lucky said, “Oh, I was only shot in the arm? How lucky!” But those who thought of themselves as unlucky—well, you guessed it.
This simple thought experiment proves the power of perception to shape our experiences, says psychologist Dayna Lee-Baggley, PhD, author of Healthy Habits Suck: How to Get Off the Couch and Live a Healthy Life Even if You Don’t Want To. “Practice telling yourself, ‘Things always work out for me. Is it always how I planned? Probably not, but that’s okay,’” she urges. “This mental shift helps you see possibilities rather than roadblocks.
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Foster lucky traits
Two core characteristics—conscientiousness (being prepared and organized) and openness to experience (being flexible and amenable to new ideas)—are most closely linked to “being lucky,” reveals psychologist Jessica Koehler, PhD. While we can cultivate greater conscientiousness by, say, setting goals and jotting down to-do’s, becoming more open to experience is a bit more challenging. “Start by developing your curiosity,” she encourages. “You might take online courses to learn new things, for example, or listen to podcasts. Diving into different areas helps expand your world.”
Indeed, lucky folks tend to be open to surprise opportunities, adds Christian Busch, PhD, business professor at the USC Marshall School of Business, affiliate researcher at the London School of Economics and author of The Serendipity Mindset. He recalls one study in which self-described lucky and unlucky people were asked to walk into a coffee shop: those who considered themselves lucky noticed a five-dollar bill researchers placed on the side-walk, while the unlucky folks stepped over it. “Lucky people see more because they open their eyes more—sadly, I’ve only found pennies so far,” he says with a laugh, “but opportunities are everywhere if we allow ourselves to be curious.”
Let your guard down
“The more connections you make, the bigger your ‘lever’ becomes, increasing the potential of lucky outcomes,” says cognitive psychology expert Eric Solomon, PhD. “Try to have real conversations with people, not the transactional day-to-day variety we too often have,” he advises. “We rarely talk about the things that make us human, like our passions—that’s why one of my favorite questions to ask is, ‘What are you most excited about right now?’” After all, genuine relationships often lead to luck-struck experiences.
Trust your ‘logical intuition’
Over-analyzing the details of a big decision often leads to poorer outcomes because logic alone is a poor substitute for intuition. “Lucky people tend to trust an informed gut feeling, a combination of intuition and research,” says Busch. “Simply look for patterns in your life and see what you can learn from them, then trust what feels right.”
Allow for feedback
Being receptive to constructive criticism is another hallmark of lucky people, observes Koehler. “Shifting our perspective when new information presents itself opens us up to new ways of thinking and helps us solve problems faster.” That’s what we call being lucky.
‘Schedule’ serendipity
When is the last time you took a walk, not knowing where it might lead, or simply let yourself daydream? Having free time on your calendar just twice a week to “wander”—mentally, physically or both—can lead to moments of serendipity, promises Solomon. “Exploring your neighborhood or calling someone you haven’t talked to in ages is like scheduling time for luck to happen. Most of us expect luck to come knocking, but the truth is, we invite it in by taking small, consistent actions.”
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