Of course being lucky in winning money does not necessarily guarantee being lucky in anything else and I have heard of some sad tales about people winning lottery, only to have a series of misfortunes befall them or their family. Being lucky in love or lucky in your work or in sport of course is a little different from winning money on a lottery ticket or a scratchie.
I am very sure that neither Cadel Evans, winner of the Tour de France nor James Magnussen’s, amazing winner of the 100 metre freestyle FINA world championship would be thinking that their recent wins, were ‘just lucky’- far from it I suspect. There is an element of luck in small decisions at a particular point in time but on the whole, to be successful in anything, there has to be a great deal of effort, preparation, commitment and perseverance. I don’t think there was much room for error or luck in Magnussen’s 100 metre race in the incredible time of 47.63 seconds. Who has time to even think in that length of time?
As Thomas Jefferson said:
“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
In his research into why some people are lucky and others unlucky, Professor Richard Wiseman has distilled his research down to four basic principles which explains how some people create their own good fortune. Professor Wiseman shares the following principles in his book, “The Luck Factor”:
Principle One: Maximise 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 to life and by being open to new experiences.
Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches
Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they 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.
Surprisingly, it seems, luck is more about your attitude to life than it is about divine forces conspiring to bring either good or bad fortune. Yes I know this is contrary to many people’s perceptions but on the whole, it’s my belief that we make our own luck even when it seems the odds are stacked against us.
Best selling author of, “The Winner’s Bible”, Dr Kerry Spackman believes that those people with an absolute and resolute self belief, will be and usually are the people who succeed most in life. While it might be that there was a serendipitous moment where everything seemed to fall in place, it is usually the culmination of consistent and persistent effort, hard work and belief in yourself that brings ultimate success.
This is an important message for our young people, who from time to time doubt their own ability and may question why they are not doing as well as they would like to or maybe not achieving their goals. A good positive attitude and a healthy perspective about life and its shortcomings and the resilience to keep moving forward in the face of adversity or setbacks, will ultimately lead young people to a more successful future. As parents and teachers we can help this process by encouraging, inspiring and motivating our young people to always work to the best of their ability and to persevere, even if they don’t succeed at first (or second or third).
As William James, American psychologist and philosopher wrote:
“The greatest revolution of our generation
is the discovery that human beings,
by changing the inner attitudes in their minds,
can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
In essence, James is saying that we can not only change the outer aspect of our lives but we can also change our luck. Stay positive, think big and believe in yourself, no matter what - even when you don’t win the lottery – darn!
Karon Graham
Principal
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ReplyDeleteMom was trying Sears telephone service which she thought wouldn't work until she went into the store in person and asked an older gentlemen who worked there and he said the new system is like talking to a 6 year old where you have to be totally precise in what your saying. In addition to having a strong sounding voice where if your voice is soft or raspy the voice system will often not register you.
ReplyDeleteOver half the stores we grew up with that had positive people have declared chapter 11 like Mervins and Wards which we had a lot of good experience where places like Target and Door Mart have people who look like they would rather be working anywhere BUT there.
China Mart (Wal Mart) used to have door greeters that would greet people as they come in and help them if they need it but the last few years there hasn't been any.
I think what happened to a lot of older department stores is that newer people got into high positions that did not take economics 101 and thought they could do what their forefathers did by listening to the same people who want to control the masses for world power.