How do you get lucky? How do you study luck?
Scientists start out by surveying people and studying those who consider themselves lucky (“Things generally turn out well for me”), and those who don’t consider themselves lucky (“Life can be difficult, you have to work hard just to stay even”).
In “The Luck Factor,” Richard Wiseman reports open-mindedness is a key trait of the self-proclaimed lucky. Lucky people also tend to be more resilient, quicker to brush off failure or disappointment or even more likely to label the experience as “interesting” or “a learning experience.” The lucky among us also scored “lower in neuroticism, the tendency to experience negative emotional states like anxiety, anger, guilt or depression.”
Lucky people tend to be open about how they achieve their goals, believing there are multiple paths to the mountain top, such as “The Checklist: attractive, college graduate, financially secure, love cats, like travel, am a morning person” versus “I don’t have a type so much as I’m looking for a good person who makes me laugh and treats me with respect.”
I don’t know about you but regardless of whether it leads directly to luck outcomes or not, there is a lot to be said for openness, resiliency, and the willingness to be flexible and interpret life’s twists and turns in a positive light.