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Ever wondered why some people seem to have all the luck?
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We've been trying to improve our luck for centuries: lucky charms, amulets, and talismans have figured in virtually every recorded civilization.
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Early Europeans believed iron had magical qualities, so hanging horseshoes in your house was meant to ward off spirits.
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Touching or knocking on wood is said to date back to Celtic rituals that were designed to rouse the tree gods and call on their protection.
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Throughout history, people have recognized that good and bad luck can transform lives.
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A few seconds of bad luck can overturn years of hard work, and moments of good luck can save years of striving.
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Superstition represents people's attempts to improve and control their luck.
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British psychologist and author Richard Wiseman undertook a ten year study on the science of luck.
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In one experiment he asked people to look through a newspaper and count the number of photographs inside.
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On average it took the people who thought of themselves as unlucky around two minutes.
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People who thought of themselves as lucky on the other hand took a few seconds.
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Why?
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Because on the second page, there was a message that said, in a massive font, "Stop counting, there are 43 photographs in this newspaper."
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The lucky people it seems were more open to possibilities other than the ones they were searching for.
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There are four main psychological principles that separate lucky people from unlucky ones.
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So first of all, lucky people are more open to opportunities, spotting them and making the most of them.
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Second, they tend to be optimists, and that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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They're pushing forward, they're expecting the best.
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Also differences in terms of intuition: lucky people tend to have lucky hunches and trust their intuition.
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And finally, they're more resilient: When bad things happen, they're good at turning that bad luck into good fortune.
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So big differences in the way they think and the way they behave.
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But whilst it's true that if you train hard you are more likely to win a sporting event, or the harder you swot for an exam the more you increase your chances of the best grade you're capable of.
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Here's the kicker.
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No amount of positivity, work or preparation will reduce the chance of say, being kept awake by noisy neighbors the night before an exam or slipping on a wet patch as you run during a race.
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It would be wrong to think that all of someone's good or bad luck is entirely due to the way they're thinking and behaving.
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When it comes to people who aren't quite so successful or happy in life we shouldn't think it's all their fault.
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It could be down to where they're born, or the society they're born into, or chance accidents, or illnesses, and you need to take all of those factors into account.
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In 2012 at a campaign rally, Barack Obama caused controversy when he said, "If you're successful, you didn't get that on your own."
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"If you're successful, somebody along the line gave you some help."
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And he raises a key factor when considering the role of luck.
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There's a whole bunch of hard-working, positive-thinking people out there who aren't successful and certainly aren't lucky.
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Obama's statement sparked debate, with several online publications railing against him, and public figures like republican rival Mitt Romney openly rebuffing him.
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For many, Obama's comments were seen as an insult to the American work ethic and the idea that success was achieved through merit.
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But as the economist Robert H. Frank argues, talent and drive will get you so far, but luck, and life chances, will also play a huge role.
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What if you asked the question, "Where do your talents come from?"
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"Where does your propensity to work hard come from?"
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If you're a hard working person who has a lot of talent, you got those traits from the environment you grew up in and from the genes you inherited.
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You're not in any strict sense in a position to claim moral credit for them, and so we're comfortable enough saying that you're lucky to have those traits.
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But what about the person who works hard?
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Is that person not entitled to congratulate herself for the effort she put forward?
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What we know is that putting forth effort in trying circumstances is difficult.
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It requires often a Herculean will to go forward in the face of one setback after another.
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If you're the kind of person who's been taught that your temperament alone determines whether you'll be persistent and your temperament is just a matter of luck, I think you're more likely to sit back and wait and see what happens.
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If instead you view yourself as the captain of your own fate and think, "It's up to me to make it happen," you're much more likely to persist against a series of setbacks.
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So it's like Richard Wiseman said earlier, "lucky and unlucky people are often determined by the way they think," which suggests that there is hope for change.
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I think that anyone has the capability and the potential to make themselves luckier.
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It's realizing that lots of that good fortune is due to the way you're thinking, the way you're behaving.
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Understand the mindset of the lucky person, and you can bring more good fortune into your life.
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See you again soon!