Creating luck in a time of crisis
Creating luck in a time of crisis
For many, 2020 was not a ‘lucky’ year.
Global and national crises are intruding and impacting our most personal spaces, and even the most resilient among us are feeling a little wearied.
Luck and the lack of it feels like a tangible reason for explaining success and the lack of it.
But what is it that the luckiest people report knowing that can help everyone else?
At CCE, we’ve done a little reading and discovered a uniting theme for those that report success and luck: attributing success to random chance is no way to feel lucky at all. Real ‘luck’ and success has a lot more to do with optimism and positive psychology then it does with external circumstances.
With that in mind, here are five tips for arming yourself with optimism and creating luck.
1. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity
This quote is widely attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca and it’s a nice reminder that luck is a matter of preparation and perspective. Are you prepared to be lucky? What is success for you, and how can you prepare yourself to achieve it?
2. Pay attention
In the book ‘How Luck Happens: Using the Science of Luck to Transform Work Love and Life’ (Kaplan and Marsh, 2018) the writers collated research on attention, perception and luck. Those that study attention and perception distinguish between narrow focus (seeing specifics) and open focus (observing the wider scene). An important ingredient in luck is the ability to pay attention on multiple levels and to see opportunity.
3. Social connection predicts success
Social connection is one of the greatest predictors of happiness and success. Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage (2010), claims that ‘The people who survive stress the best are the ones who actually increase their social investments in the middle of stress, which is the opposite of what most of us do’. Make time to balance work and relationships and you are more likely to find success.
4. Resilience will see you through bad circumstances
Sometimes bad things happen in life and you can’t change it. How you choose to feel about it, deal with it and carry on makes all the difference. Lucky people don’t exist in a bubble where bad circumstances don’t happen to them – they just have the tools to minimise the emotional impact of those circumstances when they arise. Cultivate your resilience so luck has a chance to thrive.
5. Think yourself lucky
Noted psychologist Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania told the Wall Street Journal that if he had to identify a lucky person, ‘the number one ingredient that I’d select would be optimism...believing that you have some control over what happens fuels trying’. Let yourself believe good things can happen and you will increase your chances that they actually will.
Optimism and resilience are skills that you can learn and practice everyday - so get moving and start attracting luck.