Yesterday I found a four-leaf clover. I happen to collect them, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to add another piece of nature to my arsenal against bad luck. But it wasn’t that much of a surprise, because I was looking for them.
I don’t always have good luck, because luck comes in waves. Exactly two weeks before I found my four-leaf clover, I lost my driver’s license. While out looking for it, I found two unused gift cards lying in the grass where I suspected my ID was. A few days later I received a phone call that someone had turned in my ID, but those five days of fear seemed like a fair trade for a pair of gift cards. I never would have found something new without losing something first.
A lot of new opportunities seem like sacrifices. Basic economics tells us that there is an opportunity cost for everything. Sometimes that cost is monetary and sometimes it is the inability to choose the other options given. On other occasions, that cost is time. To go out of your way to find new and good things seems daunting. But is it really that hard to be lucky, or are we just too used to saying no?
There is a pervasive culture of pro-privacy that does not give way to new opportunities. We hide behind our social media profiles and personal space bubbles. The word “no” is constantly on the tip of our tongues. It is satisfying to shut down a free sample-pusher at a kiosk. We are angry at them for even asking/bothering us. But what if how we respond to that “bothering” is the key to luck?
So, what even is luck? Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman famously conducted a study on “lucky” people and how they differed from “unlucky” people. He found that the so-called “lucky” people were defined by four learnable skills. They create and notice opportunities. They listen to their intuition. They succumb to self-fulfilling prophecies by expecting good things to happen to them. They have a resilient attitude that minimizes the emotional impact of “bad luck” and transforms it into “good luck.”
Luck is paying attention to the little prospects that surround us and making the active choice to pursue them. Luck is ignoring the question of whether or not you deserve the chances that come to you and just taking them. Luck is a skill that can be developed.
While writing this article, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and encourage the growth of my lucky mindset. I usually write in quiet areas of the library to discourage people from “bothering” me. To take my own advice from this article, I sat in the Student Union instead. It was bustling and loud but so worth it. In the hour while I was writing, seven of my friends saw me at different times and decided to say hi, two of which I had not seen in a couple of weeks and had sorely missed. I could’ve focused on how unfamiliar and discomforting the change in location was. Instead, I created an opportunity for more social engagement and said “hi” back. I made a “yes” for myself. Sticking to a hard routine and refusing to deviate in the slightest is saying “no” to so many possibilities.
So be lucky; it’s your choice to try. Fortuna may have one hand on the rudder of your ship, but you are still the captain. Stop saying no before you consider the alternative and create “yeses” for yourself. Go out of your way to observe and interact with your environment. Take and make those low-risk high-reward opportunities. Read that flyer that you’ve been walking past for weeks. Don’t be afraid to say yes to things that are outside of your comfort zone. You never know what could happen, so keep your head on a swivel. Good things come to those unafraid to want.