The Luck Factor: Do We Create Our Own Luck?

I recently came across Richard Wiseman's book, The Luck Factor.

Wiseman, a UK-based researcher, wanted to better understand why some people are lucky, while others appear to be doomed to poor luck and missteps.

The distribution of luck follows: 50% think they are lucky, 36% neither luck nor unlucky, and 14% self-proclaimed unlucky.

The book details the findings but here are a few concepts:

• lucky people tend to be open to opportunities or insights that come along spontaneously 
• unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine, fixated on certain specific outcomes
• lucky people are open to mingling at parties, while unlucky people tend to cluster with like-minded people
• lucky people have open, inviting body language, smile twice as often as unlucky people, thus drawing other people and chance encounters (ie luck) to them
• lucky people invest in a network of luck - lucky people are effective at building secure, long lasting attachments. They tend to be easy to know and easy to like and form close relationships based on trust. This network helps promote opportunity in their lives - ie luck

He concludes, "I discovered that being in the right place at the right time is actually all about being in the right state of mind."

If you consider chance a numbers game, he argues, then extroverted people simply have more chances to hit a winner.