Ten years ago, Professor Richard Wiseman set out to study luck. He wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others always experience ill luck.
Many people volunteered for his research. Over the years he interviewed them, watched their lives and had them take part in his experiments (实验). He carried out a simple experiment to discover why there were differences in their ability to catch the chance.
He gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper and asked them to look through it and tell him how many paragraphs were inside. He had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying, "Tell the researcher you have seen this and win S 50." This message took up half of the page, but unlucky people missed it and lucky people caught it.
Unlucky people are just more nervous. They are busy looking only for what they need and this stops them from noticing the unexpected. As a result, they miss out on the chance. Lucky people are more relaxed and open. The can see everything that is in front of them, not just what they are looking for.
Richard's research shows that lucky people live by several principles (原则). Here are some of them.
Listen to your gut instincts (直觉)-they are often right.
Be open to new experiences and break your usual thought pattern (模式).
Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.
See yourself being lucky before an important meeting or phone call.
