The best ways to get lucky are to stay positive and visualize success in your life. If you’d like to know how to be luckier, check out these 10 ways to get lucky in life.
1. Be Aware of (and Act on) Opportunities
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” – Thomas Jefferson
How much luck do you think you can look forward to if you stay locked up in your house like a hermit? Probably not much. If you don’t get out there and take action, you’ll find yourself in a sad pit of doom that is devoid of opportunity. Wanna be lucky? Life isn’t a charity, so get to work.
2. Visualize Success
“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
How well do you think you will perform on a date, job interview, or sporting event if your thoughts are filled with reasons you will fail? The odds would not be in your favor. The best athletes see themselves winning a game long before it starts. The best stage actors imagine an audience exploding with laughter and applause before they set foot on stage. If you’re going to a job interview, imagine how thoughtful your responses will be during your drive. If you’re preparing for a date, imagine how classy/handsome/sexy/funny the other person will find you while you get dressed. You must first see success happen before you can make it happen.
3. Focus on the Positive
“The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.” – Douglas MacArthur
An unfortunate thing that happened to me: Last week, my car engine died on the road going into my apartment complex. My vehicle didn’t come to a slow stop, but rather a dead halt. Let’s just say the bill from the mechanic wasn’t pretty, so I wasn’t very happy about this. But then it hit me: I was so lucky! My drive home that night included a 30-minute voyage on a crowded interstate. Now imagine how much worse my situation would have been if my car suddenly quit with a vehicle traveling 70 M.P.H. right behind me. I’m happy that I was lucky enough for my car to quit in the safety of my own parking lot, because had it gone out on the interstate, it’s very possible I wouldn’t be here to type this. Look for the good in all things.
4. Listen to Your Gut
“Humor has bailed me out of more tight situations than I can think of. If you go with your instincts and keep your humor, creativity follows. With luck, success comes, too.” – Jimmy Buffett
Look, we all make the occasional bad decision, so it’s in your best interest to be decisive. Trust your gut instinct and allow your intuition to guide you. Of course, you could agonize over every single decision in your life, but there is no guarantee that all that extra deliberation will lead to an increased likelihood of success (odds are it’ll just result in wasted time and opportunity).
5. Brush Your Shoulders Off
“Most of us regard good luck as our right, and bad luck as a betrayal of that right.” – William Feather
NEWSFLASH: No, you can’t have it all. Yes, you will fail sometimes. No, life isn’t fair. Yes, you have to deal with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz_-VaTHpc8
6. Try Again from Another Angle
“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” – Dalai Lama XIV
Just because your plan failed doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad idea — it could just be your execution or that method of delivery needs to be tweaked. The more you learn and grow, the more “lucky” and successful you will be.
7. Reduce Stress and Negative Thinking
“Here’s the thing about luck…you don’t know if it’s good or bad until you have some perspective.” – Alice Hoffman
Remember that time agonizing over things beyond your control made all of your problems go away? Didn’t think so. Most of us are walking, talking balls of stress. If you’re so stressed out that you can’t think straight, open doors and opportunities will blow past you without the slightest recollection. The next time you’re feeling down, ask yourself these 10 questions that prove you’re doing better than you think (go ahead and bookmark that so you can repeat this exercise as needed!).
8. Live in the Now
“When it comes to luck, you make your own.” – Bruce Springsteen
It is easy to get so caught up in our own little worlds that we become oblivious to the other people, places, and things around us. Developing an ability to live in the present moment will help you notice opportunities that would otherwise breeze past without recollection.
9. Be Curious about Everything
“Ability is of little account without opportunity.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
Developing curiosity will help you open doors that were previously closed. How is that? Because being curious will give you a fresh perspective on things, arming you with an ability to identify solutions to problems that others might miss. The more creative and innovative you are, the more luck you can create for yourself. If you’d like to think more creatively, click here to learn 5 ways to develop curiosity.
10. Keep on Hustling
“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” – Ray Kroc
You don’t lose until you quit, so don’t quit.
Do you feel lucky, punk?
I hope these 10 steps help you get lucky in life. If you know any friends who’d like to know how to be luckier, go ahead and pass this article along!
