Enhance Your Luck
December 1st, 2008 Posted in Newsletter“Do you feel lucky?” It’s not just one of my favorite Clint Eastwood quotes, it’s also an important question each one of us should ask ourselves. Turns out luck, like much in life, has a lot to do with our beliefs and the energy and attitude we project. The luckier we feel and believe we are, the luckier we are.
A great article in Men’s Health Magazine by Matthew Teague, which features the latest research from British psychologist Richard Wiseman, author of the Luck Factor, explains that there is a lot more to luck than coincidence or chance. In fact, there are reasons why some people are luckier than others and there are ways each one of us can enhance our luck - right now - today.
So before you play Lotto or walk into your big sales meeting read these tips, based on Wiseman’s research, to enhance your luck.
Make the Most of Random Opportunities - Strike up conversations with strangers. Be open to meeting new people. Ask people where they are from. When you are on an airplane or bus, talk to the people next to you. I often do this and it’s amazing how many wonderful relationships that have developed as a result. I met my wife as she was walking by my restaurant 14 years ago. I took a chance by saying hello and it was the best decision I ever made. Pay attention, be aware and open to new possibilities.
Act on Lucky Hunches - Trust your gut and your heart. Never ignore your intuition. We all have heard stories of people who avoided an accident or a dangerous situation because of a gut feeling. Lucky people also use their gut to make business decisions, purchase a home, pick a husband or spouse and choose a school. Unlucky people ignore their gut. Lucky people follow it. Trusting your gut is trusting in God’s voice that whispers in your ear.
Expect Good Fortune - Lucky people expect positive results and so that is what they get. It boils down to the power of belief. So much of luck and success is believing that good things are going to happen. What we put our attention on starts to show up more in our life. Lucky people expect that great things will happen when they talk to a stranger. They expect to find a quarter on the ground. They expect to find a parking space. They expect their clients to say “Yes.” They expect tomorrow to be even better than today. And by expecting success lucky people attract more of it.
Turn Bad Luck into Good - Lucky people turn misfortune into fortune. They believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of their negative experiences. They turn obstacles and adversities into growth and learning opportunities and use bad luck to make positive changes. Lucky people experience hardships and adversity like everyone else but they turn dead ends into detours and bad experiences into good outcomes.
Do you believe in luck? What does luck mean to you?
Share your thoughts by clicking here.
Stay Positive!
-Jon | www.JonGordon.com
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Tags: jon gordon, luck, success
24 Responses to “Enhance Your Luck”
By david on Dec 1, 2008
luck…try living all your life knowing that if it’s up to luck, you will fail. I am forever making an effort to change my beliefs but the results are what we base our beliefs. I wish one time, I could experience the good fortune of luck assisting my efforts to succeed. It runs rampant throughout my entire family, my kids are cursed and my parents are also. It’s like a dna of bad luck or should I say no good luck? I know this for a fact as my wife who is not from my lineage has wonderful luck, maybe that’s why I married her, to offset my sorry hand I was dealt in life. She wins raffles, a new line opens up at the grocery store, she is next in line! I could go on and on… thanks for your blog.
By Alan Preston on Dec 1, 2008
Another thing that separates the lucky from the unlucky is resiliency. If you are willing to trust your gut and take those chances that Jon talks about, then you must also be resilient.
Everyone gets disappointed sometimes and obviously things don’t always work out as we hope just because we want them to, but I agree that the first step toward “good luck” is believing in yourself and listening to your gut…then getting back on the horse and riding again!
Alan Preston
By michaelkpoh on Dec 1, 2008
John, great post. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
By dawn on Dec 1, 2008
Luck kind of seems mystical. I would call it more faith. I like the way Jon said God whispering in your ear.
By george on Dec 1, 2008
A friend once told me: “Good luck is where preparation meets opportunity!”
By Mardella Johnson on Dec 1, 2008
I believe you have to make your own luck. Luck is not some charm we carry in our hands. Luck is an attitude of the heart and the choices we make and our attitude towards what happens to us when everything is not working out in our lives.
By Sonia on Dec 1, 2008
Perfect message for today. especially about trusting your gut. I’ve started writing these gut feelings down. Now learning to act, act on my intuition.
By Joe Wilko on Dec 1, 2008
Wow, in the few blogs, great insights. I have a comment for David, you said your wife has all the luck, and that you married her to offset your bad or lack of good luck. From her perspective, what do you think of her good luck to marry you? Hmmm…
This is coming from someone who’s father has past, got divorced, and changed jobs all with in a 2 year period. I still have a hope for some good luck and some of this has been good luck.
Thanks, Jon!
By Marsha Keeffer on Dec 1, 2008
It takes tenacity to see the opportunity in a situation that appears to be negative. There’s always an opportunity to look for the benefit, rather than be stuck. And when we bring the positive, ultimately that’s what we get.
By Shmoolik on Dec 1, 2008
Luck is sometimes G-od’s eye’s blink,
a cute cat in our yard was very sick and needed an expensive operation of 1600nis
(400$) and we were short of money, in a burst of will power and optimism I told my wife: we’ll do it - the money will come! the other day I walked our three dogs and there between the bushes there were bills scattered around of 2600nis(650$) that was enough for the operation and for the yearly test for the car…
By Cliff Samuels Jr. on Dec 1, 2008
Luck in when you take advantage of an opportunity when your are prepared or not.
Luck is PMA; Positive Mental Attitude and Positive Mental Action.
By Stacie on Dec 1, 2008
I needed your thoughts today. I’m confused about my life and I needed to read your message. I am a lucky person, because I have God surrounding me and helping me keep my eyes focused on Him. He leads me where I need to go; even when I feel unlucky and stays with me until I remember I am lucky. I have so much to be thankful for; I am so blessed.
By Charlene on Dec 1, 2008
I feel that I have a loving Heavenly Father to watch over and protect me and my family. Luck is a fun word but I use faith instead. I work hard, I am honest, I love others, life isn’t perfect but I know I am here to make the world a better place, simply because God has asked us to help others. I have worked with high-risk children for over 20 years. Life is not a destinaiton it is journey that was meant to be shared. So smile and help someone today, you’ll be happier and blessed. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to share. Charlene
By Dave Lidgard on Dec 1, 2008
“I am a great believer in luck. I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” (Thomas Jefferson)
This is a saying my dad always used to say to me. I never understood it when I was in younger. But as I got older this saying has stuck with me.
By Thomas R. Fennell on Dec 1, 2008
Aristotle said that good luck is when the guy next to you gets the arrow, good fortune is when you get a return much larger than your investment. Make an investment and I wish you the best of good fortune.
By Mike T on Dec 1, 2008
PERFECT perfect post. Growing I never thought I was “lucky” althought not terribly “unlucky” either. I thought of myself more as a “realist”, I called it. Well, I had a decent life and had some success but not a lot. Also, I know looking back that looking at the bad things as “unlucky” caused me to miss out on a LOT of opportunities. A lot of actions and chances I did not take.
Today, I know that I am in a lot more in control of my “luck” and that my positive approach to life has a lot to do with it. The last 3 years of my life have been better and more successful and happy than all the other years combined. I can definitely get better at it, but that’s what makes Jon’s reminder and clear breakdown so helpful!
By Jon Gordon on Dec 1, 2008
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses. I need to add to what i wrote in the newsletter and that at the end of the day i believe Luck involves initiative by us to create new opportunities through our positive thoughs and actions and most of all through our faith and trust in God. I really don’t believe in luck as a matter of chance. I believe that luck is the result of initiative and faith.
By Laura on Dec 2, 2008
I no longer believe in luck. When I believed in luck it left me a victim of circumstance. Life is about choices. How empowering to know that my life is what I make it and I can be thankful for all that I have. The mistakes and the successes. When I am handed lemons I make lemonaide. Thank you God for everything.
By Wendy on Dec 2, 2008
I used to believe in luck, until I realized it has nothing to do with faith. Luck, in and of itself, is just that…happenstance or even serendipity. It is a reactionary response and doesn’t acknowledge a level of gratitude; rather, it demonstrates a lack of accountability for both the recipient and the forces driving it.
It took me a while to change my vocabulary, but I no longer use luck to explain good or bad happenings in my life.
I use the words blessings and learnings. That’s the positive, faithful application of such goings-on, holding yourself accountable and showing God his due appreciation.
By Julia on Dec 3, 2008
I definitely believe that your luck is what you believe it to be. It’s just like when something bad happens to someone and you hear them say, “That’s just my luck!”, because that’s what they believe.
By Brenda on Dec 8, 2008
I’ve recently been in turmoil over a situation in my life. I made a decision and followed through on it. Afterward, I had a feeling of being lucky, but as I thought more about it, I realized that it was listening a seed planted by Divine intervention and following through on it. I thanked God for his intervention in my situation knowing that I’m lucky that God is in my life.
By Martha Garvey on Dec 13, 2008
I love Wiseman’s work, because his research suggests that luck is both an attitude we can choose and a series of practices we can DO. Today I was thinking that I was really lucky, because a few days ago I spotted, and talked to, one of my theater heroes, a guy named Hunter Bell. And as I was thinking about that today, I saw $1.50 in quarters on the ground! Woohoo.
By Warren Bradley on Jan 4, 2009
I don’t know if I believe in luck. I was told once while in Steamboat,Colorado, by a friend, to take his wife to a luncheon I had been invited to. “Take my wife”, Larry said, “she’s lucky”. It was a pitch to introduce a time share project. I needed a day off from skiing to rest a day anyway. Lunch was to be followed by the actual presentation, and then a drawing to win a two week all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii. After a tour of the property and listening to the presentation by a very, very slick sales rep who wrote upside down on the table placemats, we ate. This was backwards from what I had believed the schedule to be, so I didn’t complain. I was on vacation anyway. We then were allowed to reach into this big fishbowl. There must have been 1000 small pieces of folded blue paper with numbers written on them in the bowl. They said go ahead, “Pick one out.” I told Oney, “Go ahead”. When Oney reached deep into the bowl and without looking, pulled out the blue piece of paper that we opened and it said HAWAII VACATION, I could have died. The people running this operation were going crazy and didn’t know what to do. They ran around like chickens with the heads cut off. One had to get on the phone and call to HQ in Dallas and explain what had happened. They told me since I was the winner, since I had signed up to attend the lunch, I would be notified as to the particulars. I got a business card and left happy. Later, in the months to come, I contacted the company numerous times and never received the Hawaii vacation.
I’ve believed, since I was about 13, that luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparedness.
Warren Bradley