Positive psychology assures you that you can bring luck to your side. How to make us more lucky? Psychologist Philippe Gabier, author of Praise for Luck, explains.
Luck is both an object of desire and an object of prejudice. It is believed that there are two types of lucky people: those who “collect” auspicious cases simply because they were born under a lucky star, and those who received a gift from heaven (a lottery win, a fateful meeting, an inexplicable cure).
Psychologist Philippe Gabier believes that this postulate needs to be supplemented, otherwise we will remain within the framework of magic and fatalism. “Indeed, there is random luck, but there is another kind of luck that can be “pushed” and cultivated, and such luck is available to everyone.”
This approach is in line with the views of Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK who specializes in the “luck factor.” Studying hundreds of lucky people allowed him to establish that there are two types of luck: passive (winning the lotto) and psychological, which arises as a result of a volitional decision, a conscious formulation of a personal position. Another of his discoveries is that the second kind of luck can be renewed, which is why the psychologist calls it “long-term luck.”
Both types of luck have five components, Wiseman believes: a timely meeting (the right person at the right time), key information that turned out to be the way, openness to the new (the possibility of gaining positive experience), an unexpected request, and a life-changing event that disrupts the normal course of life.
“In order to prolong good fortune,” Philippe Gabier clarifies, “you need to prepare the ground in which the seeds of favorable opportunities can develop and become stronger.” This can be done only if the following four attitudes are mastered.
1. Set a task
“In order for the luck generator to work, it must be programmed and adjusted depending on the direction we have chosen,” says the psychologist. “Then it will give meaning to the events that happen to us, and “generate” luck: it is our goals that ensure the operation of the generator that will allow us to detect it.”
Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura, known for his concept of self-efficacy, wrote: “Our human nature is partly guided by the choice of personal values and norms that we make. The mechanisms in which we see our value as individuals partly determine the impact of our meetings on the direction of our social development.
So, if there is no clear intention in advance, there is no lasting luck. This does not mean that you have to start with detailed project planning. It is rather about defining your desires, feeling in which direction you would like to develop your life, what meaning to invest in it.
Positive intention is the quintessence of vital desires, and in order to define them, you need to understand what gives us a sense of inner flowering, which can become the driving force of all life. “What resonates with me? What do I need, what do I want? These are the questions that underlie our path to success. Then everyone has to concretize their expectations, give flesh to their intentions: keep a diary, get an education, meet those whose desires are similar to ours.
2. Open up to the world
This means being internally ready to notice the new, to perceive as much as possible what is happening around us. “This is a general setting for attentiveness and constant wakefulness, which allows us to catch interesting information, instantly see the prospects for a new acquaintance, direct energy in a certain direction.
In this way, we increase our chances many times over, regardless of whether we consider ourselves involved in the emergence of these opportunities or not.” Pausing from time to time to switch off, we allow our intuition to work and free ourselves from the power of the opponents of luck – routine and automatic thinking.
3. Exploit failure
“The most successful are not spared from the blows of fate or unexpected troubles, but they are able to effectively and with a long-term result “recycle” their failures,” the psychologist continues. – Without giving in to anger, sadness or vindictiveness, they look in themselves for the reasons for failure, find the right assessment given the circumstances, and finally subject their failure to “recycling”.
To begin with, they separate the accidental or inevitable from what they themselves (even if partially) are responsible for. “They can also, paradoxically, find the seeds of good luck at the very heart of their failure, because almost always things could have been worse.”
Finally, they ask the only significant question in such a situation: what can I take out of this trouble? Or, in other words, how and under what conditions can I transform it into something positive? What should I do now to turn it in my favor? What did this event teach me? How can I use the situation to meet the right people, get new information, discover other worlds?
The last stage of the “reworking” is the “restart” of the chance generator in order to now open new doors, find other ways. Do something unusual, renew relationships with old acquaintances, accept and send invitations, collect information on a topic that concerns us … Everyone will have to find a way to let a fresh wind into their world and add new ingredients to their luck, no matter how they are called – a timely meeting, key information, a new world, an unexpected request…
4. Become a talisman for others
“Luck is others,” says Philippe Gabier. The more extensive our network of personal contacts, the more people we know, the more likely it is that a happy accident will happen to us. Richard Wiseman elaborates that successful people “inherently expect their relationships with others to be fruitful.”
Provided, of course, that when entering into a relationship, we show generosity, attention to another and provide services free of charge, otherwise acquaintances come down to selfish and selfish replenishment of the list of contacts. That is why, in addition to connections as such, we need the energy of giving ourselves, otherwise we will not be able to lay the foundation for long-term luck. This means that we ourselves must become talismans for others, bring them good luck.
“Love, knowledge and luck have something in common: they are designed to continuously circulate in society, connect people and create universal values,” says the psychologist. – To bring good luck to others, it is enough to give them attention and time, to be ready to listen to them. Communicate important information to the interlocutor, open up a new field of opportunities for him, but also be there in case of failure to help turn it into a chance for a change for the better.
By showing sympathy and solidarity, we not only provide ourselves with a reserve of future successes, but also fill life with meaning and depth, refuting the infamous maxim “Man is a wolf to man.”
About the Author: Philippe Gabier is Professor of Psychology at the Graduate School of Commerce and author of In Praise of Luck and In Praise of Optimism. One of the pioneers of positive psychology in France.