How to increase your luck: Simply expect that you are lucky

What if being lucky was a choice rather than mere coincidence? Rather than calling on the Fates to change Luck’s influence or humbly and sadly accepting that some have all the luck, and others. . . not so much, why not just expect that lucky things can happen more often? It is a lot easier than casting spells or working within the constraints of the planetary alignments and moon cycles, to be sure. It also might save a bit of time.

An article posted July 20 at LifeHacker explains how Fortune indeed favors the bold. Studies find that expecting to be lucky essentially changes one’s whole mindset, helping them to become more confident. Those who are more confident take more chances. The weight of pre-existing worries are lessened when a person carries that confidence, and if it’s a numbers game, more chances taken means the possibility of more lucky breaks.

That doesn’t mean that you have to get rid of your lucky rabbit’s foot or shirk crossing your fingers when holding your breath for results. Good luck charms seem to viably work. 

Psychologists at the University of Cologne reported that superstitious beliefs and charms led to reduced tension in stressful situations such as big contests and exams. Participation in superstitious activities also increased participant's belief in their own abilities. "Engaging in superstitious thoughts and behaviors may be one way to reach one's top level of performance," the researchers related in their journal article, “Keep Your Fingers Crossed! How Superstition Improves Performance.”

Some researchers warn against the kind of fantasy thinking that psychologists call “the illusion of control,” where people believe they can influence the outcome of random events such as in the case of gambling. For more success,Mentalfloss suggests forgetting about trying to influence random events or even focusing on desired outcomes. Research has pointed out that the more people fantasize about positive outcomes, the less those wanted outcomes occur, “perhaps because fantasy replaces effort that could get them ahead in the real world.”

Want to know how to attract good luck with methods that are backed by research? There are numerous books and articles on the subject that can help. In the meantime, why not try taking more chances but not without first telling yourself that you are one lucky so-and-so.

*originally published at the now defunct Examiner.com