Luck vs. Failure: 4 Traits That Lucky People Have in Common

An interesting conclusion was made by the expert: successful people are united by four common characteristics.

Many times you may have felt that luck is on the side of certain individuals. However, it is, by definition, based on probability. But according to Richard Wiseman, professor of psychology and author of The Luck Factor, our actions and attitudes towards the bluebird can increase our chances of being lucky.

In his ten year study he interviewed 400 people who described themselves as “lucky” or “unlucky” and found that those who were consistently lucky professionally and personally responded to situations in fairly similar ways. Here are four common traits an expert has found that successful people have:

1. They seize opportunities
lucky people not fixated on a fixed way to achieve their goals. According to Wiseman’s research, this flexibility presents them with situations in which they are more likely to meet and interact with new people (‘new doors open’ for them).

“It’s easy for people to miss out on opportunities in life. They keep talking to the same people in the same manner. They continue to follow the same route to and from work. They keep going to the same vacation spots,” he writes in the study, “however new or even random experience opens up the potential for new possibilities“.

2. They “listen” to their intuition

Personality tests have shown that unlucky people tend to be more anxious and stressed. This anxiety can lead to indecision. On the other hand, lucky people often make quick decisions based on their intuition. By trusting the “voice of their inner self”, they are more likely to take actions that will lead to the best result and open up new opportunities for themselves.

3. They are optimists

In Wiseman’s study, lucky people often found something positive in “adverse” circumstances. In one experiment, he asked them to imagine a scenario in which they were waiting in a bank when “an armed robber walks in, fires a shot, and a bullet hits them in the arm.” Is this event good or bad?

“The unlucky people tended to say that it would be a very unfortunate event, and they would simply be unlucky to be in the bank during the robbery,” Wiseman writes. On the contrary, lucky people viewed the script as a stroke of luck and often spontaneously commented that the situation could have been much worse. As one lucky participant commented, “It’s good luck because you could have been shot in the head. Besides, you could sell your story to newspapers and make some money.”

4. They are “survivable”

Lucky people bounce back quickly, even when things go wrong. “They tend to spontaneously imagine how the adversity they are facing could have been worse and still feel much better about themselves and their lives,” says Wiseman. “This, in turn, helps maintain high expectations for the future and increases the likelihood that they will live happy lives,” the psychology professor concluded his study.

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