The Verghis View — January  2009 edition

It has been a particularly harsh winter in the northeastern United States. Add the barrage of bleak economic news, and a lot of people are feeling blue. During times like these it’s easy to spot the eternal optimists. You know the type: the ones who think the glass is more than half full. (Confession: guilty as charged.)

Being optimistic is a pretty good trait to have, it turns out. In fact, it is one of the four principles of people who are lucky. Yes, you read that right. There are traits you can adopt to improve your luck.

In a 2003 book called The Luck Factor: Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life: The Four Essential Principles (Miramax), Professor Richard Wiseman scientifically explored psychological differences between people who considered themselves exceptionally lucky and unlucky. Wiseman states that people are not born lucky. Instead, lucky people use four basic principles (often without realizing it) to create good fortune in their lives.

• Principle One: Maximize Chance Opportunities
  Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude toward life and by being open to new experiences.
• Principle Two: Listening to Hunches
  Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. They also take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities by, for example, meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
• Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune
  Lucky people are certain that the future is going to be full of good fortune. These expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping lucky people persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.
• Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good
  Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on ill fortune, and take control of the situation.

Scientific Luck
A number of great scientific discoveries came about by accident (or luck). A relatively recent well-known example is the ‘failed glue’ that led to the creation of Post-It notes.

Famous science-fiction author Sir Isaac Asimov, who was also a professor of biochemistry, once said, “The most exciting phrase in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I’ve found it!) but “That’s funny…”

Speaking of funny, enjoy this hilarious customer service complaint letter written to Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airways. But be forewarned: If you travel a lot, and enjoy food (confession: guilty as charged), you are quite likely to make a fool of yourself laughing out loud as you read it.