Luck requires much more than a four-leaf clover … even if it doesn't hurt. Learning to embrace opportunities and make your own fortune can make the difference between a successful, fruitful and happy life and passive waiting for something good to happen. Stop waiting. Create your own personal success. Grab your luck by the scruff of your neck by learning to set specific goals and achieve them by working smarter instead of wasting energy. For more information, start reading this article.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Creating Your Own Luck
Step 1. Change your perspective on the meaning of the word luck
Luck is often seen as something external, beyond our personal control. We usually expect something (or someone) to come upon us, to make our life better and luckier. Waiting for the arrival of luck, rather than acting to create it, is a crazy strategy that can lead us to a constantly negative vision and thoughts, which lead us to judge the luck of others as the result of chance, rather than precise choices and decisions.
Think of luck as an emotion rather than a certificate or ticket to some exclusive club. Just as you decide to be happy, you can decide to be lucky and be willing to change your behaviors and create opportunities for success yourself, rather than waiting for the changes to happen on their own
Step 2. Take advantage of the opportunities
If you are busy waiting for things to be perfect, you will be waiting a long time. Learn to recognize opportunities as they arise and improve your chances by embracing the opportunities you have.
If you're given an important project at work that you feel you're unprepared for, you might consider it a stroke of bad luck, complain to your coworkers and make excuses for yourself, or you might see it as an opportunity to shine in style. Think of it less as having to do with luck and more as an opportunity to succeed
Step 3. Be open to change
As you get older, it becomes easier to freeze in your beliefs. Repetitions and habits are comfortable, but learning to accept the possibility of making changes, however small, will keep you receptive to the opportunities and luck that arise.
- Learn to accept criticism and use it as an opportunity for improvement. If your boss criticizes something you've worked hard on, consider yourself lucky. You will know how to do better next time.
- If you miss a date that goes horribly, use the experience as a dress rehearsal for the next one. Where did you go wrong? What can you do differently next time?
Step 4. Enjoy "small wins"
When something suits you, hug it. Keep yourself humble, but learn to enjoy the small wins and the least successes to stay positive, motivated and happy.
- The "winnings" don't have to be a big deal either. Maybe you made the best spaghetti Bolognese for dinner or maybe you feel proud to have gone out for a run when you really didn't feel like it. Celebrate!
- Don't compare your success with that of others. It's easy to beat you down, downplaying your achievements, saying, "Yes, I took a production award at work, but my friend Roberto invented the most popular iPhone application of all time." What does this have to do with you?
Step 5. Avoid cyclical behaviors
Over time, we have learned to make automatic decisions and reactions that block us from the same behaviors. We are often not aware of the decisions we make, and some elements of the status quo of our life that may seem immutable can be easily corrected, after recognizing one's own behavior patterns.
Maybe you don't feel fit with all those after-work drinks. Break this habit. If you always feel the need to hang out with colleagues after office hours, consider going to the gym with them for an hour or two. Identify your behavioral patterns and review them all
Step 6. Be positive and generous with your time
Lucky people are the ones that everyone loves to be around, because wealth seems to benefit everyone. Become that kind of person by being more positive and generous.
- Make it a point to congratulate others when they do a job well done or when something good happens to them. A congratulatory note can have unexpected effects.
- Offer your skills, even for the little things. If you are wondering why no one has offered to help you move, try to remember all the times you have pulled back over the years when faced with similar commitments. The next time that happens, volunteer your time and your pickup truck and you'll see your luck spinning.
Part 2 of 3: Goal Setting & Work Hard
Step 1. Set yourself deadlines
Whether it's business or social goals, learning to set strict deadlines to meet can make a difference. Even if no one's breathing down your neck, learning to follow through and complete a project will keep you productive and lucky. You will feel like you can manage your life, instead of always struggling to make up for lost time.
Make a list of small steps towards completing a goal. If you want to clean the house or lose weight before catching up with your old school friends, decide which phase of your project needs to be finished by the end of the week. It won't happen suddenly, so you'll do well to reach the ultimate goal in more manageable stages
Step 2. Believe in your goals
To succeed, you must learn to value the importance of the goal as fundamental. Consider your every little project important. Now open that YouTube channel for reviews you've always wanted to start. Now, not tomorrow.
Step 3. Persevere
Doing a "good enough" job will never ensure lasting success and luck. Going further, getting your work efforts done, and seeing things through to completion, will do it instead.
Spend less time worrying if you made a good impression on a first date or if your boss got mad at you over some hard-to-interpret emails. Speak out. Open up channels of communication and accept your confused state and your emotions. Then let it go
Step 4. Raise your expectations
Do everything to be and to give your best. Is it enough for you? Could you answer better? By making an effort to go for the things you really want, you will create your luck instead of excuses.
Step 5. Work smart, don't waste energy
Learning to be efficient in your endeavors will help you stay enthusiastic and energetic towards your goals. You will be able to produce more if the work you do is simple and optimized.
Look for partners. Learning to delegate tasks and ask for help when you need it makes work easier
Step 6. Be proactive
Making the first efforts induces events to happen. If everyone in attendance complains about the lack of hot dog carts in your city, you can all wait for someone who gets the idea you already had, or you can start cooking.
Do it now. Don't set plans for some dark or unlikely date at some point in the future. Do it now. You must have already done this. Today
Step 7. Be assertive
If you want something, don't be afraid of it. You will be fully aware of your success if you lower your expectations and avoid the frightening possibility of opportunities. Go get it.
Ask for a raise, end a relationship, and make any necessary changes rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you. Don't wait for your superiors to notice that you are doing a good job, you take care of it. If your job doesn't make you happy, learn to recognize your discontent and look for better opportunities
Step 8. Be enthusiastic
You are alive on planet earth. You could be a strange slug with no cognitive abilities floating on a piece of space debris. Think how boring it would be! Learn to be excited about what's happening in your life and the opportunities you have. If you are dissatisfied with how things are going, use that dissatisfaction as an opportunity to do what you want. Start a band. Learn to play pool. Stairway of the mountains. Stop making excuses and start making your own fortune.
Step 9. Surround yourself with supportive people
People in need who require emotional support from you or who take your time with their problems suck your emotional and physical energy. Learn to be sympathetic to your friends and to support each other. Only get involved in mutually beneficial relationships and you will remain happy, healthy and lucky.
Part 3 of 3: Using Symbols and Talismans
Step 1. Look for lucky bugs
In many cultures, some insects are believed to bring good luck. Sometimes killing these insects can bring bad luck, so it's good to be aware of them and let them live.
- Running into a ladybug is often considered a sign of good luck; it is sometimes thought to have healing properties for the sick. Try wearing a ladybug-shaped amulet or pendant to channel the insect's luck.
- Dragonflies are often related to water and the subconscious. Some people think that meeting a dragonfly means that something important in our life is about to change.
- When the crickets stop chirping, something is about to happen. Maybe something bad. Some Native Americans once thought crickets brought good luck, and crickets often appear on jewelry and other amulets in the Middle East and Europe. The sound of crickets is widely considered lucky.
Step 2. Look for plants and auspicious signs in nature
In many cultures, finding certain plants has always been considered a lucky omen. Keep your eyes peeled for lucky plants.
- Shamrocks are commonly collected by schoolchildren as a wish for good luck.
- Looking for acorns was a Scandinavian tradition, because oaks attracted lightning, a sign of Thor. The possession of acorns, too, was a way of keeping oneself safe from the fury of that deity.
- Some cultures think that bamboo helps with spiritual growth.
- Plant and grow basil for consumption - it appears to be aphrodisiac. It also has antibacterial properties and brings other nutritional benefits.
- Honeysuckle, jasmine, sage, rosemary and lavender are commonly harvested plants and herbs that have multiple nutritional and therapeutic effects. They all have a wonderful scent and can be used for a wide variety of dishes, soaps and herbal teas, so they are useful as well as lucky.
Step 3. Bring a representation of a lucky animal with you
If you are spiritually attached to a particular animal with whom you feel a particular affinity, bring a small toy or other element that represents it with you to channel its beneficial energy. The rabbit's foot is a common good luck charm, linked to fertility.
- Early Christians thought the dolphin was a protective animal, and sailors often used the presence of dolphins as a harbinger of good news or a quick and safe journey back.
- Frogs were considered lucky animals in many cultures, including ancient Rome and Egypt. The Mojaves believed that the frog had given men fire. Frogs symbolize inspiration, wealth, friendship and prosperity.
- Tigers and red bats are also commonly considered lucky animals in China.
- Turtles and tortoises belong to myths from different cultures and are considered lucky animals.
Step 4. Decorate your home with lucky items:
they bring wealth and well-being.
- Dream catchers, Kachinas dolls, and feathers are often considered lucky symbols in several Native American cultures. In the Americas, they are commonly seen as good luck items to keep around the house.
- Buddha statues, staples of many Chinese restaurants, are thought to bring good luck to the home.
- Practice Feng Shui to bring luck and harmony to your living space.
- Images of St. Christopher and the Virgin Mary are very common in Christian homes. Readily available prayer candles can be considered sources of good luck and spiritual comfort.
- Horses are reliable creatures and horseshoes are often thought to be lucky. They are hung above the doors: they keep good luck in the house and keep bad luck out.
Advice
- If you can do something, do it!
- Hard work will lead to success. Hard work is proportional to luck.
- A third of your life will be lucky. A third will be unlucky. A third will depend on your attitude towards what happens. Choose to have a two-thirds lucky life.
- Wear a lucky bracelet or necklace.
