Why are some people more lucky in their careers than others, they go from one great job to another while others struggle? Being ‘lucky’ is actually a state of mind, as discovered by psychologist Richard Wiseman in his ten year study. Here are five rules to improve your luck in your career based on his findings.
1 Stay in touch. Lucky people enjoy building long lasting relationships; they stay in touch with a much wider group of colleagues and friends than less lucky people. This network of friends then helps to create opportunities in their lives. For example, one of my clients Dave has stayed in contact with people everywhere he has worked. His network has bought him many opportunities including the part time contract he wanted while he is finishing his masters.
2 Expect good luck. When you expect good fortune, you tend to feel more happy and positive; your behaviour is such that you are more likely to attract good luck. So, if you go to an interview and you expect to get on well with your interviewer, you are more likely to act more naturally & be more friendly & confident & thus your interviewer is more likely to like you and be friendly back.
Our expectations change our behaviours, making our expectations self-fulfilling. When you expect your interviewer to warm to you, when you expect that they will be keen to see you for a second interview and give you the job, you are going to be a lot more relaxed and comfortable and get a better result. As Tennessee Williams said ‘Luck is believing you’re lucky!’
3 Be Determined. Attempt to achieve your goals, even if your chances of success seem slim; keep going in the face of failure. Working hard for your dreams and being determined are the only security you have.
Lucky people persevere, they try a lot harder and persist for longer than less lucky people, that way they maximise their chances of getting what they want. One of my clients Veronika had always wanted to get honours and had never achieved it. She had her last exam coming up, she kept working really hard and exploring new ways to study and she was thrilled indeed to get honours for her bar exam!
4 Do something different. Lucky people take positive steps to prevent more bad luck in the future. If they go on 3 interviews and they don’t work out, they persevere, they pause, reflect and have a think about what they can do differently next time i.e. they read a book, get feedback from other people about how to get a better result or they go to a career coach for advice. Unlucky people give up, while the lucky ones believe they will succeed, try different things, persist, and in the end they do succeed.
5 Move on. Lucky people do not dwell on their bad luck - once they have taken the learning, they let go of the past and focus on the future. This is important whether you’re hoping to get a new job or you have had challenges in your career. Lucky people forget about the misfortune that has happened to them and instead focus on their good luck. Whatever you focus on tends to increase. Lucky people stay in a positive spiral because they focus on the positive and feel luckier and luckier. Unlucky people focus on their bad luck and create a downward spiral.
Wishing you good fortune in your career!