Scientists have uncovered four little attitude tweaks that can help you tap into an upward spiral of good fortune

Most of us think of luck as something the universe doles out randomly—seemingly to other people. But a flurry of new psychology studies suggest that

while certain circumstances are driven by sheer chance, many events we consider enchanted accidents really stem

from deeply rooted human behaviors and beliefs. “There’s a saying that luck is where preparedness

meets opportunity, and in large part, that’s true,” says life coach Janet Bray Attwood, coauthor of Your Hidden Riches. “You prime yourself for what you want to expe-

rience, then when a chance to move that way shows up, you take it.” In other words, good fortune

isn’t magical, but it isn’t make-believe either.Attwood points to a landmark experi-

ment conducted by British psychologist Richard Wiseman as proof: In the study, he assigned a group of volunteers to count the photographs printed in a newspaper, but as a twist, he stuck a large message between pages that read, “Stop counting. There are 43 photos in this paper.” Participants who considered themselves lucky spotted the tip and quickly offered the answer. On the other hand, most of the self-described unlucky volunteers missed the message and kept right on counting.

Belief in your own good fortune seems to catalyze a feedback loop in which luck begets luck: Those who expect positive outcomes are more apt to look for—and find—them, Attwood notes. And the benefits of feeling lucky can be huge. Research at the University of Toronto and elsewhere shows that compared with people who have a neutral or dark view of their fate, those who consider themselves lucky report feeling happier,

more open-minded and more optimistic about relationships and life in general.

Read on for simple ways to foster a lucky outlook and better your chances by design.

stress sos

4 ways to up your luck

Okay, so donning lucky socks won’t help you hit the Powerball jackpot. But in situations where the outcome depends on performance (during a sales pitch, for instance) a good-luck charm can, well, work like a charm. Case in point: German researchers found that golfers who were told they were hitting a “lucky” ball sank 35 percent more putts than subjects who played with a “regular” ball. That’s because talismans foster self-efficacy—the baseline belief that we can accomplish a task, says psychologist Carole Kanchier, Ph.D., author of Questers. “This triggers a neurological response that enables us to set high goals and persist lon-ger in the face of challenges.”

It’s tempting to switch up your strategy after narrowly losing out on something, whether it be a plum job offer or top prize at the pie bake-off. But runners-up tend to overcorrect afterward. In a study at Brigham Young University, researchers looked at NBA coaches and found they made radical revisions to their playbooks fol-lowing any loss—even when the win-ning team scarcely outplayed them.

When nagging feelings of discour-agement make you feel as though you’ll never catch a break, spill your feelings in a letter or list, then trash it. “This gives physical expression to an intention you’re setting in your life,” Attwood explains. “You’re put-ting aside the events of the past and embracing the gifts of today.” It’s a tactic proven effective by a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: People who physically distanced them-selves from a jinxed object were able to zap sensations of doom and move forward confidently. Indeed, Attwood recalls one client who penned letters to her exes, then went to a beach and burned the pages. Only then did she meet and fall in love with her husband.

To some extent, feeling lucky hinges on the unexpected, according to research in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making—a chance encoun-ter that sparks a friendship, or a juicy business tip overheard at the super-market. “Rigid schedules interfere with that serendipity,” says Kanchier. “While it’s important to have plans, try not to write them in stone.” Instead, make a point to veer off the beaten path once in a while: Try chatting up the owner of the coffee shop you visit every day. Say yes to that iffy party invitation. Take a new route on your neighborhood stroll. Says Attwood, “Good fortune comes into your life when you start paying attention to the good fortune already in your life.”

Ph

OTO

s, C

lOC

Kw

Ise

fr

Om

le

fT:

Ge

TT

Y (2

); C

Or

BIs

; Ge

TT

Y (2

). T

ex

T: e

rIN

qU

INl

AN

3/23/15 First for women 45

“with a close call, the thrill of victory or agony of defeat can skew our evaluation,” explains study coauthor Brennan Platt, Ph.D. “we beat ourselves up too much for barely losing, mistakenly interpreting the loss as a signal to shake things up.”

so if you’re kicking yourself for juuust missing the mark, squash the urge to junk your plan. Instead of thinking, I lost, tell your-self, I almost won. recalling all you did right will up your odds of triumphing down the road.

insight

Lucky secret

Lucky secret

Lucky secret Lucky secret

4 ways to up your luck

take a taLismanJunk a Jinx go off book

outsmart overcorrect