How To Get Luckier
Being a tense type may actually make you less lucky. Sounds a bit whack at first, but the article by psychologist Richard Wiseman makes the notion seem pretty plausible. He writes in the Telegraph/UK about, for example, chance opportunities. He says lucky people consistently encounter them where the unlucky do not. He did an experiment to try to figure out whether they differed in the ability to spot such opportunities:
I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs, whereas the lucky people took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: "Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2in high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.For fun, I placed a second large message halfway through the newspaper: "Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250." Again, the unlucky people missed the opportunity because they were still too busy looking for photographs.
Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be flashed at the edges of the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots.
The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large financial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw.
And so it is with luck - unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and as a result miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.
He summed up at the bottom:
In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell - a reason to consider a decision carefully.Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.
Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.
Gawd, what tripe.
I'll conduct a short test of this today: while searching for faults in our ducument coverage when Engineering makes design changes, I'll just "go with the flow" and rely on luck.
I know a guy who's a pilot. I'll suggest this to him. It should relieve him of all that tedious pre-flight checking, then scanning the skies for other aircraft, and so forth.
We'll really be enjoying ourselves. Hope you're not downwind in the plume!
Radwaste at March 5, 2012 2:08 AM
I read this in some email which was circulating a long time back. Some people said the email was a hoax.
And Scott Adams says that luck is the single most important factor for success. I tend to agree. Besides, a person being observant or focused is also pretty much luck.
Redrajesh at March 5, 2012 3:29 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/05/how_to_get_luck_1.html#comment-3028472">comment from Radwastewhen Engineering makes design changes, I'll just "go with the flow" and rely on luck.
This isn't to say that luck is a substitute for all things, simply that the orientations suggested by his research and suggested in the article seem to be a helpful psychological approach.
Amy Alkon
at March 5, 2012 5:24 AM
Rad, I'm disappointed in your comment. There's all sort of research that backs up, for example, the notion that being optimistic is positive for productivity and success. And then there's the converse -- Randy Nesse's thinking that depression is "low mood," and that it stops one from doing frustrating and unproductive things. Sometimes, to be productive, and to succeed, you have to do things that don't seem to pay off -- just because you believe. It's how I started and syndicated my own column when syndicators told me I'd never make any money. (This was in the days before newspapers started tanking.)
Amy Alkon at March 5, 2012 6:30 AM
Amy is right. This is less about flying by the seat of your pants in all situations and more about your outlook in life. People who are open tend to take more risks (not necessarily defined as life threatening) and thus reap more rewards. People who look at failure as an opportunity to learn are also more successful on balance. The guy was not advocating that we all jump off cliffs just to see what happens or drive around withou seat belts. You were meant to keep a sense of proportion while reading this article.
Sheepmommy at March 5, 2012 6:51 AM
I do believe that putting a lot of stress on oneself leads to poor performance. It's true in sports and a lot of other endeavors. Bad luck is a bit of a stretch - bad luck is being on the wrong flight on 9/11/2001.
MarkD at March 5, 2012 7:03 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/05/how_to_get_luck_1.html#comment-3029128">comment from MarkDI do believe that putting a lot of stress on oneself leads to poor performance.
When I worry about my performance on my radio show, I'm always worse and stumble. Now that I've done it for...maybe 20-some weeks, it's something I just do. I worry somewhat because I always worry -- because I want to do a good job. But, I just put in the work and the shows seem to be good -- and something I love doing.
I actually have a sense of terror every time I do a column that it won't be funny enough or I won't get the science right or it won't be good enough. It keeps me from being a hack, I think.
Amy Alkon
at March 5, 2012 7:48 AM
The aviation equivalent of looking for pictures and ignoring the messages, or focusing on the center dot and missing the other items on the screen, would be a pilot who is so fixated on certain instruments, parameters, or process that he ignores important things outside those aspects. For example, someone who is doing a great job of maintaining heading, altitude, and airspeed, but misses that hideous banging sound coming from the engine.
A flight instructor advised that when on final approach, once you have the airplane properly trimmed, it's a good idea to *take your hands off the yoke* for several seconds. The point being to cue yourself to not exclusively act as a servomechanism but rather at the higher level of an observer/manager of what is going on.
david foster at March 5, 2012 7:51 AM
It's about recognizing an opportunity when one just happens to wander by. Those who do recognize the opportunity and are in a position to take advantage of it are perceived to be "lucky".
I'll posit that there was some hard work and forethought to get to that point. After that? more work and effort to see it bear fruit.
Luck, indeed.
Well, you can stake that claim --
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
If they don't take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame
We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones
Apologies to Rush.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 5, 2012 9:48 AM
My dad had a similar experience in college. The professor had been trying to make a point to the students about not rushing into things.
So, on one exam, the worst student in the class finished the test first and got the highest grade. Why? Because on the last page the exam told the student to simply sign his name and turn in the blank test for an A. The students who rushed to begin answering questions had to finish the test. The one who flipped through it, looking for a loophole, found the loophole.
Armed with that anecdote, I looked diligently in my own college experience for that same loophole and never found it. Wonder if I missed a different loophole while looking for that one.
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"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur
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Didn't Malcolm Gladwell write an entire book about this?
http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330973310&sr=8-1
Conan the Grammarian at March 5, 2012 10:50 AM
This is the academic equivalent of that Alanis Morissette song "Isn't it Ironic?" -- the one where none of the examples is actually ironic.
None of this is luck. In fact it's the opposite of luck. The guy who talks to people wearing a certain color to expand his circle? Strategy. Ditto the students tearing through the test to see how little they can get way with.
Then again, this guy now gets paid to teach a luck class. How lucky! Books for sale at Telegraph books. Extra lucky.
elementary at March 5, 2012 12:59 PM
Optimism isn't the approach to risk minimization, high performance or longevity. Planning is.
Now, you can be optimistic if you want, but hope is not a substitute for work. You need to turn the optimism off after you figure out you can handle the problem.
We have an awful lot of people thinking that if they just do one thing, then everything will be fine. You just posted how that's not working for black parents in top-tier schools.
Gee, you live in a nation where the voters bet on luck - it was just called, "Hope and Change". There wasn't anything to it.
Hey, I'll quote one of America's foremost authorities on luck:
"The more I practice, the luckier I get." - Arnold Palmer
Radwaste at March 5, 2012 3:54 PM
Hey, I'll quote one of America's foremost authorities on luck:
"The more I practice, the luckier I get." - Arnold Palmer"
That was the first thing that came to mind when I was reading this, but I couldn't remember who said it...thanks, Rad!
gharkness at March 5, 2012 4:32 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/05/how_to_get_luck_1.html#comment-3031989">comment from gharknessPracticing does something the article touches on as part of luck -- it makes you relaxed. When something becomes second nature to you, you don't have to think about it. Now, when I do my radio show, for example, I'm used to doing the little "station IDs." Gregg Skypes me to remind me to do one if I haven't done one for a while, and I just grab the sheet (from where the sheet now goes -- out of habit) and blast it out there. I used to be nervous about this because I was unpracticed. With practice, no big deal. So, I can be relaxed in a way I wasn't before.
PS Rad, you asked a good question about politics last night (on the radio show) but I ended up not getting to it because I wanted to yank him off that subject. But, thanks. It was smart and I did want to ask it. Gregg sent it to me, too (but I saw it in the chat room text).
Amy Alkon
at March 5, 2012 5:11 PM
Man, I can't stand Rush. Geddy Lee's voice just grates on my nerves.
Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, always puts me in an optimistic state of mind. Go figure. But I think we make our own luck. Just like we make our own hell. I don't believe there's a "hell", or even nine of 'em, "out there" or "down there" somewhere. I think what we do and how we interact with others and the world around us determines pretty much what we get out of it. So I try to put out as much good karma as I can. Sometimes it bites me in the ass, sometimes not. So yeah, maybe you could call me a curable optimist. But I like being that better than being a pessimist.
Flynne at March 5, 2012 5:15 PM
Amy, I see what Raddy is getting at... Racers have a saying: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity." Preparation is how you gain trust in yourself and your team; and trust is how you know when you've done the best you can do. Yes, in a lot of activities you need to pay attention to your procedures and checklists. But you also need to be able to recognize when you've come across something that the procedures didn't anticipate, good or bad.
Some of you may recall United Airlines Flight 232, which crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989. The plane had lost all directional control systems after an uncontained engine failure. However, one of the flight crew had undertaken on his own to study a similar accident in Japan, and had mentally worked out some ideas for controlling the plane using the throttles of the two remaining engines. The crew was able to guide the plane to the Sioux City airport, where they almost succeeded in landing it but got a bad break with a gust of wind at a critical moment; the plane cartwheeled and broke up. Not everyone survived the crash, but 185 people did.
Cousin Dave at March 5, 2012 5:57 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/05/how_to_get_luck_1.html#comment-3032171">comment from Cousin DaveYes, but the people who can be more successful are those who are both prepared, which takes work and have an orientation of positivity, etc.
Amy Alkon
at March 5, 2012 6:33 PM
Amy, that's what I was trying to get at. A negative person can never trust themselves; thus they don't have any way of knowing whether they have done a sufficiently good job or not.
Cousin Dave at March 5, 2012 6:40 PM
Amy,
You're getting at it, and Rad you're in the ballpark.
If you ever look at SEAL-BUD/S, Force Recon, Green Beret, PJ training you see see what happens regardless of attitude.
When you watch a lot of training scenarios for cops, and similar personnel, you will find that if there are five people, plus "clerk" in a "convenience store" simulated environment and perp 1 pulls a gun on a clerk the cop will pull the gun and fire at perp 1. The cop invariably dies because perp 2 fires on the cop. That is because the cop narrows his vision and ignores the rest of the "patrons". Extensive training will eventually get the cop to the point that three perps, two "patrons" and the clerk walk out alive from a combination of instinct, experience, practice, gets you to the "Harry Callahan" stage.
This is the same for special forces. They go through about 10,000 rounds, live and dummy, before they are generally added to a team. It is not being an optimist or a pessimist. It is training.
Answer in 5 seconds. How many F's are in this paragraph? :
It is all psychological, but it is also training.
Jim P. at March 5, 2012 8:37 PM
That's true. I'm pretty happy-go-lucky and willing to try stuff. And my bad luck has always resulted in good luck so far.
Like the time I applied for my dream Masters' program and didn't get in. I did get into my fallback school. Then I had a horrible moped accident, and I couldn't start the fallback school, because I was in bed for a couple months. So I reapplied to the dream school and got in! (I had taken classes at the school's extension program in the mean time and gotten a recommendation from the prof).
Or the time my boyfriend dumped me and I was devastated. He dumped in in October, and by August I was married to my husband, who is a much better match. If the first guy hadn't dumped me I might have lingered years in a mediocre "good enough" relationship.
A lot of my good luck happened before I was born, though, so I don't see how my attitude could be responsible for that!
NicoleK at March 5, 2012 11:28 PM
C'est ici le meilleur des mondes possibles
NicoleK at March 5, 2012 11:29 PM
Which tool when?
You'll have the mental/emotional space to be open, observant, and spontaneous if you've used habit to save you from thinking about the small stuff.
Much of our actions are canned routines. We'd go crazy if we had to think everything through every time we did it. Driving is the classic example.
Which is another version of "preparation meets opportunity" as described above by others.
Ben David at March 6, 2012 10:33 PM
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