How To Get Luckier In Your Life: The Science Behind Creating Your Own Luck
By Atticus Li, Growth & Experimentation Leader
Most people think luck is random. I used to believe that too, until I became fascinated with understanding what makes some people consistently luckier than others. This curiosity led me to stumble upon groundbreaking research that changed how I approach both career and life decisions.
The results have been transformative. Not just professionally, but in how I navigate uncertainty and create opportunities.
The Luck Factor: What Professor Wiseman's Research Revealed
I discovered the work of Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who conducted a fascinating decade long study on the psychology of luck. His research, documented in his book "The Luck Factor," followed around 400 volunteers who considered themselves either very lucky or very unlucky.
What Professor Wiseman found was remarkable: luck isn't random. It's a set of learnable behaviors and mindsets. His research revealed four key principles that distinguish lucky people from unlucky ones, and I've been experimenting with these concepts in my own life ever since I came across his work.
Professor Wiseman identified four principles that separate lucky people from unlucky ones, as detailed in his research and book "The Luck Factor." What I find most compelling about his work is that these aren't just abstract concepts. They're practical strategies that anyone can implement.
The Four Pillars of Manufactured Luck
Pillar 1: Maximize Chance Opportunities
According to Professor Wiseman's research, lucky people are masters at creating and noticing opportunities. But here's the key insight I've drawn from his work: they do this by letting more of the world into their lives.
I learned this lesson accidentally 7 years ago during my van life phase. Instead of my usual routine of working from the same coffee shops, I decided to explore a used bookstore in a small town I was passing through. While browsing during a break, a book with a worn cover caught my eye: "Who Gets What and Why" about marketplace economics.
That random $8 purchase completely shifted how I think about labor markets and efficiency. The book got me fascinated with how to make job matching more effective, how to help the right people find the right opportunities faster. This wasn't just academic curiosity; it became a lens for understanding my own career moves and helping others navigate theirs.
The point isn't the specific outcome. It's the principle: the more you allow the world to come into your life, the more connections and opportunities present themselves.
This could mean:
Choosing the record store over Spotify for your next music discovery
Studying in different locations instead of the same desk every day
Taking the long way home and noticing what you pass
Joining that local improv class you've been thinking about
Speaking of improv: I joined one with a friend back in college and ended up performing in front of a full house. The biggest lesson for me wasn't about comedy. It was that most mistakes pass unnoticed, and the few people do notice don't care nearly as much as you think they will. This insight has made me more willing to take risks.
Pillar 2: Listen to Lucky Hunches
Professor Wiseman's research found that lucky people trust their intuition more than unlucky people. But as I've reflected on his findings, I think intuition isn't mystical. It's your brain's ancient pattern recognition system working faster than your conscious mind.
Think about it from an evolutionary perspective. Your ancestors who could sense danger or opportunity without consciously analyzing every detail were more likely to survive and reproduce. You inherited those same pattern matching capabilities.
In my experimentation work, I've learned to distinguish between gut instincts (which are often right about people and situations) and emotional impulses (which are often wrong about data and statistics). The key is knowing when to trust each one.
Your intuition is particularly valuable for:
Sensing whether someone is trustworthy in professional situations
Recognizing when a trend is about to shift
Feeling whether you're in the right environment for growth
Detecting opportunities that look different from what you expected
Pillar 3: Expect Good Fortune
Building on Professor Wiseman's third principle, this isn't about blind optimism. It's about understanding how expectation shapes behavior and perception, something his research demonstrated clearly.
When you expect good things to happen, you:
Notice positive events more readily
Persist longer through challenges
Present yourself more confidently in opportunities
Take actions that increase the probability of positive outcomes
I've seen this play out in my career transitions. When I expected to find growth opportunities in unexpected places, I actually started seeing them everywhere. When I expected setbacks to be temporary learning experiences, they became exactly that.
Pillar 4: Transform Bad Luck Into Good
Professor Wiseman's fourth principle reveals that lucky people have a specific way of processing setbacks. According to his research, instead of ruminating on what went wrong, they ask "how could this have been worse?" and "what can I learn from this?"
This isn't just positive thinking. It's a cognitive reframing technique that preserves emotional energy for constructive action.
When someone is mean to you or rejects your ideas or tells you to stop chasing your dreams, the lucky mindset recognizes this isn't about you. It's about them. Their reaction is data about their state of mind, not evidence about the quality of your pursuits.
The Geography and Timing of Luck
Here's something I've observed that goes beyond Professor Wiseman's core research: some places and times are objectively luckier than others, depending on what type of luck you're seeking.
If you want career luck, certain cities, industries, and companies provide more opportunities for chance encounters and rapid growth. If you want creative luck, different environments optimize for different types of inspiration and collaboration.
The key is matching your luck-seeking strategy to your goals and current life situation.
For career luck: Conferences, co-working spaces, industry meetups, and cities with high concentrations of your target industry create more professional serendipity.
For personal growth luck: New experiences, travel, classes, and activities outside your comfort zone increase the chances of perspective-shifting encounters.
For creative luck: Diverse inputs, regular exposure to different art forms, and time in environments that stimulate your senses feed the pattern recognition that leads to creative insights.
Putting It Into Practice: Your Luck Multiplication Strategy
The most effective approach combines intentional exposure to chance with systematic reflection on the results.
Weekly Luck Audit: Every Sunday, identify one routine you can break in the coming week. Instead of your usual lunch spot, try somewhere new. Instead of your normal route to work, take a different path. Instead of scrolling social media, walk around your neighborhood.
Monthly Intuition Check: Once a month, make a decision based purely on gut instinct rather than detailed analysis. Start small (which book to read, which event to attend) and notice the outcomes.
Quarterly Fortune Review: Every three months, write down three "lucky" things that happened and three challenges that led to unexpected benefits. Look for patterns in how and where these events occurred.
The goal isn't to become superstitious. It's to become systematically more open to the opportunities and connections that already exist around you.
When Luck Strategies Don't Work
This approach requires certain conditions to be most effective:
Emotional bandwidth: If you're dealing with major stress or crisis, focus on stability first. Luck multiplication works best when you have mental energy for new experiences.
Basic security: Some financial cushion helps you take advantage of opportunities when they appear. If you're in survival mode, prioritize building that foundation first.
Clear goals: Random experiences are most valuable when you have some sense of what you're looking for. Completely directionless exploration often leads to interesting experiences but not necessarily useful ones.
Pattern recognition skills: The more you understand yourself and your industry, the better you'll be at recognizing which "lucky" encounters are actually worth pursuing.
Your Next Lucky Move
The beautiful thing about Professor Wiseman's research is that it shows you can start creating more luck immediately. You don't need permission, additional skills, or significant investment.
This week, try one simple experiment: change one small routine and pay attention to what happens. Buy that book that catches your eye. Take that different route home. Join that group you've been curious about.
Most importantly, start noticing the opportunities and connections that are already presenting themselves. Professor Wiseman's research demonstrated that many people live in luck-rich environments but fail to recognize the fortune that's right in front of them.
The question isn't whether lucky opportunities exist around you. They do. The question is whether you're creating the conditions to notice and act on them.
FAQ
Is this just confirmation bias making me notice good things that were always happening? Partially, Yes. And that's actually part of how it works. When you actively look for opportunities, you train your attention to notice them. But the research shows lucky people don't just notice more positive events; they also create more situations where positive events can occur.
How do I know if my intuition is right or if I'm just being impulsive? Intuition tends to be persistent and calm, while impulses are urgent and emotional. Good intuition often feels like "I should pay attention to this" rather than "I must do this right now." Start with low-risk situations to calibrate your internal guidance system.
What if I try these strategies and nothing lucky happens? Define what you mean by "lucky." Are you looking for career opportunities, creative inspiration, personal connections, or something else? Different types of luck require different environments and timeframes. Also, some of the biggest benefits come from developing comfort with uncertainty and new experiences, which pays dividends over time.
Can introverts get luckier, or does this only work for extroverts? Many of these strategies work well for introverts. Browsing bookstores, changing study locations, and trusting intuition don't require high social energy. The key is finding ways to expose yourself to new inputs and experiences that align with your natural preferences.
Author Bio: Atticus Li is a growth strategist and experimentation leader with 10+ years in SaaS, banking, and energy. His work in CRO, analytics, and behavioral economics has helped startups and Fortune 500s drive over $1B in acquisitions and major revenue gains. He writes at experimentationcareer.com, helping students, practitioners, and decision-makers apply experimentation to build smarter products, careers, and teams. The views expressed in this article are the author's personal opinions and do not reflect the views of any current or former employer.