Care to change your luck?

I was looking for a job for a month now. I apply like 10... 15... maybe even 20 jobs, one after another. Its kind of depressing when you try your best and accomplish nothing. I feel like I am the most unlucky person in the world. Am I?

Is there such thing as luck?

I read an article by Richard Wiseman. Yup... It's his name 'wiseman'. He is a psychology professor in University of Hertfordshire. If you visit his website, he might looks familiar to you... wonder where did you see him? Actually he is quite famous and features in various television programmes especially documentary series. Right... nuff about him, his article is about creating your luck and quite interesting.

The first thing he mention is chance. Most people pointed their fingers at 'chance' when something happen to them. Is there any distinction between chance and luck? Yes. Chance is events. It is like a lottery ticket. You buy a ticket and thats it. You don't have any control of the outcome of the event. And chance don't consistenly happen to the same person. But when it does it is because of something that you do. Chance is just 10% of your life.

What is luck then? Well... Its more like a way of thinking. Lucky people tend to try new things and open to opportunities whereas unlucky people think in a routine. Two person walk on the same road to a same destination. Suddenly there is a small road shows a sign 'shortcut to destination'. Lucky people will notice this and take the junction while most unlucky people either did not notice or do not care. Depends on your life background, both ways of thinking are unconscious and automatic. So you can practice and make your own luck. Say you attend a job interview. How you think before and after the interview usually determine the outcome.

What about saying, "Just think positive, and you'll be successful"? Hmm... In my oppinon positive thinking might be a good or a bad thing for you. I agree that its a bit overlapping with the "counterfactual thinking" but i am sure that there is a difference. When you practice positive thinking, what you are doing is telling yourself that everything is fine and under control. So what is the problem then? There is no problem with that but at the same time you are trying to solve problems with the easiest possible solution. There is no critical thinking happens in your brain and this might be harmful to your brain. It's more like "Feel lucky and you'll be successful".

According to Richard Wiseman there are 4 principles to create your good fortune.

1. Maximize chance opportunities
2. Listen to your lucky hunches (instinct)
   
3. Expect good fortune
4. Turn bad luck into good

This remind me of my Physics teacher in college. She is scottish by the way. One day she came into her class, brought a 'cat' and put it in the class. Its a cat statue; you know... the sitting cat that has one hand raise and wears an amulet. Cat have hands? We were told that it was a lucky cat and hopefully bring good fortunes. I think its a Chinese believe. Some of us found it really hilarious. If only it was that easy to be lucky. Good LUCK!