Does luck play a role in your success or failure?

There are people who consider themselves lucky and there are people who consider themselves unlucky, and some people do not believe in luck at all.

Your beliefs determine your views about yourself and your world.  And in this case if one believes that one is lucky, or unlucky it can have an impact on your action, emotions and overall life satisfaction.  In situations like these, you may end up in a loop, which could become a self fulfilling prophecy.

In one of the Harry Potter movies, Ron is anxious and uncertain about his ensuing game of quidditch.  Harry pretends to mix a drop of liquid luck in Ron’s drink. Ron believes that he has drunk the liquid luck potion and hence believes that luck favours him.  It is his belief (that he is lucky)- that makes him feel confident and makes him successful in the game, though he hadn’t consumed the luck potion actually.

In a study by psychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire, author of the 2003 book – The Luck Factor, he compares people who consider themselves lucky or unlucky.

In the study the participants are given a bunch of newspapers under asked to count the number of pictures printed on the newspapers.  Most of the people who consider themselves to be lucky were able to determine the answer to the question very quickly, when compared to most of the people who considered themselves unlucky.

The reason for this was that, on the second page he had placed the answer to the question saying there are X number of pictures in this newspaper.  Most of the people who considered themselves lucky, were able to find this entry, thereby finding the solution of the task given, when compared to most of the people who considered  themselves unlucky, who didn’t find the solution in the second page, and so continued to count the pictures in the rest of the pages.

Our thoughts, emotions, behavior are all interlinked and influence one another.

So if you believe that you are lucky, it can generate positive emotions in you, like feeling motivated, energized, excited, optimistic and forward looking thereby enabling you to be more aware of your situations, environment, opportunities.

On the other hand, if you believe that you are unlucky, you can make you feel demotivated, unenthusiastic, not in control, pessimistic, and thereby you might not be alert, vigilant, unaware of the situation and may end up losing many opportunities. This creates vicious cycle that makes your belief even more strong that you are not lucky.

It does not mean that, by just believing that you are lucky, you will be able to accomplish the goals that you want to.  You would still need to put in the effort that is required.  But it enables you to put in your effort in a better, smarter and focused manner. It doesn’t mean you take unreasonable risks but calculated ones.  It keeps you positive, motivated and energized, increasing the possibility of identifying opportunities and probability of success.

About the Author:

Kala Balasubramanian is certified Counselling Psychologist/Psychotherapist with a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Diplomas in Counselling and has further certifications specializing in couple/marriage/relationship counselling and family counselling.  She provides a supportive, understanding, professional and confidential environment to work with clients – Individuals and Couples explore their emotions, help them understand and manage their challenges, relationships and stress better.