How to Get Lucky

Wishing businessman crossing his fingers in his officeYou wake up for early morning shifts, run through meetings, pitch new ideas weekly, and yet you find yourself never progressing. It is as if you are running on a treadmill at full speed and after putting much effort into taking strides forward, you rest stationary. Are you not meeting the right people? Doing the right work? Honing the right skills? Or is it just a matter of luck?

As the old saying goes, luck is “what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” A ten-year study developed by psychologist Richard Wiseman, discovered good fortune is not primarily the result of talent, hard work, or even intelligence. Although those elements play a role, it is the attitudes and behaviors an employee maintains that allows them to be “lucky” in the workplace.

To increase chances of being lucky, Wiseman suggests maximizing and acting upon chance opportunities as they arise, listening to your intuition, and recognizing the positive in situations. We must learn to move quickly to take control of situations when things do not go according to plan, instead of letting ‘ill fortune’ overcome you.

 By Jessica Loccisano, Team SPS