I have recently read Neil Farber’s article ‘8 Habits of Highly Lucky People’ published on Psychology Today. I enjoyed reading it.
Here are my takeaways from the article; eight practical ways to change your luck:
1. Be Mindful.
Mindfulness is being non-judgmentally alert and aware of what’s going on around you as well as inside you—how you’re thinking and feeling. Mindfulness occurs on a moment-by-moment basis. When you are operating mindlessly, on auto-pilot, you are unlikely to observe opportunities or take advantage of a situation.
2. Be proactive.
“Lucky” people make things happen. They are proactive rather than reactive.
3. Be opportunistic.
Successful people are opportunists. They have the ability to take advantage of novel and often concealed opportunities when they arise. Many people are blind to opportunities because they don’t notice them or because they are inflexible and stuck in their ways.
4. Be insightful.
There are two types of knowledge—explicit and implicit (or tacit). Explicit knowledge is the kind people gain from reading books and going to school—factual stuff. Implicit knowledge is what we achieve through observing and experiencing—things you really can’t teach.
Having insight involves integrating explicit and implicit knowledge with an understanding of social situations and emotions, both yours and others’. Insightful people have higher emotional and social intelligence—being able to “read” people and understand unspoken issues in a social situation.
5. Be flexible.
Appreciating the dynamics of life and being able to go with the flow provides enormous advantages to finding new ways of doing things or getting places or creating opportunities.
Lucky people are flexible and take advantage of new situations.
6. Be optimistic
Optimism helps you see the advantages in any given situation. Lucky people with an optimistic outlook are better able to identify the silver lining in any given situation.
7. Think out of the box
It’s not enough to be flexible and to accept changes as they occur. To truly enhance your ability to be lucky, take advantage of alterations in your schedule and changes in your plans. Lucky people think out-of-the-box.
8. Be resilient
Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” There are splatters and bouncers. Splatterers crush when they fall, while bouncers are resilient. Be a bouncer!