"British psychologist Richard Wiseman conducted a 10-year study on luck. He followed 400 participants, some of whom considered themselves very lucky in life, love and career, and others who considered themselves unlucky.
In personality tests, the ‘unlucky’ group were found to be more tense and routine-driven. Anxiety disrupts people’s ability to notice the unexpected — a crucial factor in creating or seizing chance opportunities. To test this, Wiseman gave each participant a copy of a newspaper and asked them to count the number of photographs it contained. On page two there was a half-page advertisement that said, in bold type, ‘STOP COUNTING. THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER.’ Wiseman found that those who had pre-identified as ‘lucky’ were more likely to notice this ad. They expected good things to happen.
People miss out on wonderful opportunities when they are too focused on looking for something specific. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner, and miss opportunities to and new friends. They do an internet search for the perfect job, discounting other jobs.
In Wiseman’s experiments, those who were trying harder performed below those who were more relaxed and open and ‘went with the ow’ without an expectation of ‘doing it perfectly’. People who were more relaxed were also found to be more ‘lucky’. It’s similar to those times when you’re trying, unsuccessfully, to think of a word, or someone’s name, or a book title, and it comes to you effortlessly, later, when you’re not trying. The brain functions best with a break."
