Do you make your own luck?

We all rely on an element of luck to get by. But have you ever considered where it comes from?

Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire has spent eight years looking into what makes some people consistently lucky and others repeatedly unlucky.

He has concluded that it is a person's approach to life that matters more than intelligence or psychic ability.

Dr Wiseman devised four principles of luck, which he has taught to a group of unlucky people at his 'Luck School'.

Click here to read more about the four principles of luck

He estimates he has reversed the fortunes of around 80% of his previously jinxed pupils.

Are you convinced? Do you think we make our own luck? Or is it simply something that comes our way? Would you consider yourself lucky or unlucky?

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This Talking Point has now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

Unfortunately, sometimes it's easier to make bad luck than good. If you play golf in a thunderstorm and get hit by lightening you've helped make bad luck but there is very little legal that you can do to improve your chances of winning the lottery.
Tom, USA

Gary Player, the golfer said something about luck, along the lines of, "...the harder I practice the luckier I get!"
Darrin Hawkins, UK

If people feel better when they anticipate a reward maybe they are not completely wrong

John W, NZ/UK

Most religions believe we get what we deserve and by being good we receive good. Some people believe that by voluntarily sacrificing ourselves in some way we can receive a greater compensation. This could be a nothing more than a self-deception but if people feel better when they anticipate a reward maybe they are not completely wrong. As for winning the lottery we know the odds are overwhelmingly against us, the reward again is in the anticipation.
John W, NZ/UK

Yes and no. Luck is a point where the road of preparation intersects the road of opportunity.
Agha Ata, USA

Confident people are less likely to be dented by failure and so will only seem luckier when really they're no more successful than anyone else. There's no such thing as luck.
Emily, UK

If you are in the right place at the right time, it means somebody else isn't. There are many things out of our control, maybe it is just destiny or something. A good way to decrease your odds of winning anything, in life or otherwise, is to do nothing. Find good luck before bad luck finds you.
Robert, UK

Luck is just statistics. If you toss six billion coins repeatedly, some of them will come up heads for a very long time. Are they 'lucky' coins? I'm surprised no one has mentioned chaos theory yet - there may be an underlying system that we do not understand, but we see certain patterns or aberrations and perceive them as luck, whereas they are just part of the whole structure - a small eddie in a large ocean. I'm going to have a lie down now.
Ash, UK

People do better if they have their confidence boosted

Bryan, UK

Everyone who has ever wished "Good luck!" to a friend about to sit an exam or attend an interview knows intuitively what Dr Wiseman has spent eight years researching: people do better if they have their confidence boosted. Of course, pure luck, say winning the lottery, is not affected by any of Dr Wiseman's suggestions.
Bryan, UK

Sometimes fortune favours the foolish. Not long ago, a woman in Russia, said to be a heavy drinker, hit a $1 million jackpot, the first time she bought a lottery ticket. There are thousands of people who have been studiously spending lots of money on lottery tickets but have not got anything so far.
Boris Marchenko, Russia

It's easy to think positive if good things happen to you but very difficult to keep thinking positive if all you get is knockbacks. There are definitely people out there who don't seem to have to try very hard at life.
Tony Peters, UK

"You make your own luck" is what lucky people say to unlucky people.
Paul, UK

My friends call me the luckiest pool player ever

Paul, UK

My friends call me the luckiest pool player ever. I beat them time and time again, usually with some near impossible and ridiculous shots and after losing the first frame. But I have been practising for many years.
Paul, UK

Keep your head down, play safe, and man the barricades, if you will but the fresh ideas and opportunities won't bother to com your way. We don't need psychologists to tell us this - do we?
Tony, UK

'Luck' can be a misused word. It is given to very few people to be on the receiving end of genuine 'luck'. Mostly, our lives are what we make them and how we deal with things. I was redundant from March last year to November and now have a good new job - but this was only after a great deal of exhaustive job hunting and a lot of rejections. I don't consider luck to have been a factor; what I gained was through perseverance, effort and having the right attitude.
Jenny Barton, Kent

If it involves a filling in a form then I can guarantee that the paperwork will get lost in the post

Tracey, UK

I would like to believe that luck is what we make of it etc, but I'm faced by my partners bewildering bad luck when it comes to bureaucracy. No matter what the circumstances, if it involves a filling in a form then I can guarantee that the paperwork will get lost in the post or the company/government organisation will undergo restructuring and somehow or another there'll be lengthy delays. It might just be the sad case that service isn't what it used to be, but then how come *I* don't get these problems?
Tracey, UK

Lucky is spending eight years 'looking into what makes some people consistently lucky' and being paid for it!! I think I am going to go research the pubs of Norwich. Now, where do I sign up for my grant?
Matt, UK

Kindness, that's what enhances life and makes you feel lucky.
Tracy, UK/US

Luck is as man-made a state as time - non-existent but vital to define for the sake of our sanity.
R C Robjohn, UK

Luck? There's no such thing

Steve, UK

Luck? There's no such thing. Everything in life is about risk and reward - you take a risk to reap a reward. When crossing the road for instance, you risk being run over but the reward is you get to the other side. When you enter the lottery, you risk a small amount of money for a large reward at great odds but at the end of the day that's all it is - statistics.
Steve, UK

My husband and I have been to hell and back in the 20 years we have been together. Redundancies, family deaths, car accidents, loss of home, illness, and the icing on the cake is that my own mother ignores me in the street because of her racial prejudice towards my husband. Would we consider ourselves lucky or unlucky? Lucky, because through all of this we have stayed together, we have good health and most importantly we have each other.
Anonymous, UK

This seems to be one of those courses in the "bleeding obvious" that gives universities a bad name. Luck is simply the interpretation one puts on events that occur by chance. One can easily reduce the probability of such events by a little thought. Staying in bed, for example, would be a good way to avoid most things considered lucky or unlucky!
Andrew, UK

I'd like to know more about the methodology of this study. It appears lucky people were defined by how they described themselves and unlucky people likewise. I'm lucky if I say I am.
Martyn, UK

Life is a series of random events. No amount of positive thinking, or initiative, or hard work, willpower or decisiveness will change that. Lazy people are often successful; hard workers often fail; good people are often punished whilst evil ones laugh last. To think otherwise is to mistakenly believe that the universe is moral and meaningful.
Andrew, UK

The old adage is 'chance favours the prepared mind'. If you are always looking for the good, and prepared to take that chance when it appears - however briefly - then you will have good 'luck'. Simple!
Neil, UK

There is no such thing as luck. The reason why some people do well while others do badly is all down to opportunity and motivation, which in turn is created by society.
Peter, UK

The more money you have the more choices you can make

Steve, UK

I think being exceptionally lucky at games of chance is just a statistical aberration - of which at least a few must exist. Being lucky in other ways might be related to your wealth, health and attitude. The more money you have the more choices you can make. The healthier you are the more choices you can make. The better your attitude the more likely you'll be able to create those choices in the first place.
Steve, UK

My aunt was a stewardess with a holiday airline in the 1970s. She had a day off, but sickness of a colleague meant she was asked to work. On the way to the airport, her car broke down, and she should have missed the flight, but technical delays meant she actually arrived in time. The flight took off from Manchester that day, but two hours later crashed into the Pyrenees mountains killing all on board. I'm afraid on that day, outrageous fortune triumphed over her positive attitude.
Helen Baxenby, UK

I believe that luck is definitely based upon positive outlook and making the most of the opportunities presented to you. Life is a random game which you need to be adaptable enough to deal with. Luck is a human creation. If we perceive ourselves to be lucky, we are just noticing the positive patterns in our lives, rather than the negative. I choose positive.
Yusuf Budeiri, UK

To suggest that luck can be engineered is to redefine the meaning of the word luck.
Anonymous, London, UK

I disagree with the anonymous person from London who claims that luck by definition cannot be engineered. I think we need to acknowledge the difference between chance and luck. Chance relates to unforeseen or unforeseeable events whose outcomes are in the lap of the gods. Luck is surely about large or small pieces of good fortune which occur, engineered or otherwise, and isn't this largely dependent upon the individual's attitude and how one perceives "good fortune"?
Sharina Lilaz, UK

Who said - "It's attitude and not aptitude that achieves altitude?" It's always worked for me.
Tim Pearce, UK

I don't believe there are naturally lucky and unlucky people - just some people who are more or less resourceful than others. Someone who thinks of 20 ways they might get the lucky break they need in their life is a lot more likely to get one than someone who only thinks of one.
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England

People who think of themselves as lucky at gambling tend to place more bets

Alan, UK

People who think of themselves as lucky at gambling tend to place more bets, buy more lottery tickets etc - so obviously they win more often - which reinforces their deluded belief that they are luckier than other people. The reality is that they are spending more on gambling than the "unlucky" ones.
Alan, UK

From what I have seen positive thinking people tend to do better and have more luck because they believe things will be happen for them. They are healthier, more successful and able to overcome hurdles easier. The two seem inextricably linked.
Seun Abayomi, England

As my Dad used to say to me - "If you can do something to change it, do it. If you can't stop it happening then worrying won't help." If you see the glass as half full instead of half empty then you will have a more positive time of things as you walk through life!
Mark Dickinson, UK

It's much easier to cope with life if you are positive about it

Helen, UK

It's so true - our own perceptions of our lives shape our 'luck'. If your car breaks down and you get stranded on the hard shoulder for 2 hours some would see that as life kicking them in the ribs and be miserable about it, while others would thank their stars for being lucky enough that they were not in a more serious accident! All down to attitude - if you convince yourself that you are unlucky and fated to be unhappy (like a friend of mine) then you only see the down side of life and prove yourself right. We are all able to take a greater control over our happiness or 'luck' than many people choose to believe - it's much easier to cope with life if you are positive about it - about time more people took this course and cheered up!!
Helen, UK

I definitely agree with the findings. If you think positive and believe you can do things then it's a massive step towards achieving your goals. I think the Channel 4 series "Faking It" is an excellent example of people who had previously thought they couldn't achieve anything yet were able to live up to their full potential in the right environment. You have to create your own opportunities and make the most of them!
Lex, York, England

It took him eight years to discover those four principles? Those principles have been known for a long time and are already documented in many self-development books. What's more, they are common sense. However, people will hopefully now believe these principles more.
Andy, UK

As the great golfer Gary Player once said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get."
Bob, England

People who complain of being unlucky very often simply lack initiative and, to some level, enjoy the sympathy which comes from playing the martyr.
Chris Fallon, Durham, UK

Call it luck or attitude, the results are the same

Bill, USA

Having a positive outlook will enable you to cope better in situations which require positive action. This has a positive bootstrap effect. Being negative puts you in the opposite situation where everyone cries in their beer and blames everyone else for all of their woes. Call it luck or attitude, the results are the same....
Bill, USA

Those people who equate 'luck' with winning the Lottery - ie getting something for nothing - are greedy and lazy. This prevents 'luck' happening. Your attitude creates your own 'luck'. Be proactive, humble, learn from failure, grateful for success and have positive expectations from what you do. It DOES work.
Patsy, UK

If you are in a good mood, you'll remember the things that went well. If you're in a bad mood, you'll remember the things that went wrong. It's as simple as that. All a positive attitude does is massage your memory - the world doesn't bend over backwards to please you!
Marcus, London, UK

In essence, a 'lucky' person is one who refuses to be crippled, victimised or ghettoised by a random, unhappy events and moves on. Perhaps there is the making of a reality TV show here. Take some people who are positive and some who are negative, place them in identical situations with tasks to perform and then inflict some 'good' and 'bad' luck on them.
Ian, Cambridge, England

Luck is the 'x' factor which rears its head if you don't stay ahead of the game

Chris B, England

In my experience, luck - good or bad - is the "x" factor which rears its head if you don't stay ahead of the game and manoeuvre situations to your advantage. As Dr. Wiseman suggests, it's about attitude and your approach to life.
Chris B, England

Life is not about luck, it is about chances. You either take them or you let them pass. But be aware that you will only have very few big chances during your lifetime. They may seem daring or daunting, but with enough determination you can see them through. People around you may interpret this as "luck" but it is in fact hard work to turn a little bit of luck into lasting success.
Holger, UK

People expect life to go their way. If it doesn't, they say its "bad luck". When unexpected favourable events occur, they say its "good luck". Minimise bad luck by planning and hard work but dismiss good luck as unplanned coincidences and don't dwell on them - if you accept good luck, you must accept bad.
Jason, England

A relative of mine won the lottery five years ago and is now broke. Is he lucky or unlucky? Either - it's up to him. In the words of Kipling: "If you can meet with triumph and disaster, And treat those two impostors just the same ..."
Martin Bell, UK

Be prepared for an opportunity - that's luck.
Kamran Yousaf, UK

Without wishing to sound too much like David Brent, life is a series of peaks and troughs. If you treat each bad occurrence as a learning experience, and something that will help you to avoid future mistakes, then something positive has come out of it. We all die one day - there's no point in wasting your time dwelling on the bad points. You may as well enjoy the ride.
Matt, UK

Of course life is what you make of it. If anyone doesn't know this yet then perhaps Dr Wiseman's school is what they need.
Yinka, UK

My approach to life can make help me with the lottery? Dr Wiseman will be a lucky luck man if he gets us to swallow that. He clearly has been attending his own school.
Martin, UK

I think it is a myth we all get good and bad luck - it levels itself out in time
Nick, Wales

I realised that no matter what problems hit me there was very little I could do about them

Mel, London

I reckon it is about attitude more than anything. If you are miserable and bitter in life then people will treat you that way. I was and it did. I pulled myself together over a long period of time, relaxed and chilled out. I realised that no matter what problems hit me there was very little I could do about them. They would come and they would go of their own accord. My whole outlook on life has changed. I only look for good things now. I only see the good things and the good people and the bad stuff does not worry me.
Mel, London

I believe that luck exists ... elsewhere.
Martin, England

The lucky are those who work hard. The lazy don't get lucky. Observation and experience, though; not science.
James Honeybone, UK