Can You Learn to Be Lucky?

Karla Starr

                             ‘Luck’ is something a lot of us complain about evading us. But according to Karla Starr, luck is more predictable than a lot of us like to believe. In her book Can You Learn to Be Lucky?, Starr talks about how we can navigate the system for it to work in our favor. We can in fact learn to be ‘lucky’.

While most tips for being successful suggest that we do things first, Starr says the opposite. According to her, we have a better chance of winning a competition or getting a job if we come in last. This is because our brain relies on emotions and information currently available to it to make a decision. If we are the first to an interview the employers will be hesitant to make an offer in hopes of someone better coming along. But if we come in last they will know that there aren’t better options to come along and are more likely to hire us. So to get lucky, we should always try to go last, when people’s expectations are not high.

Being in the right place is another factor that increases our luck. We, humans, favor things that we are familiar with, and we are more familiar with things that we are frequently physically closer to. This is why being near others will improve our connections. People will favor us if they are more familiar with us. To get luckier we should step away from the edges and get into the thick of social groups.

But it is not just about being in the right place. Our appearance when we are in the right place is another factor that can increase our luck. Our wardrobe creates the first impression on others that influence their decision-making. We should always strive to make a good, lasting first impression to get lucky.

As humans, we are predisposed to favor attractive people and as a result, luck often seems to come easily to beautiful people. Our brains take one look at the admirable features of a person which we correlate to good genes and automatically assume that they are smart and will possess good qualities. So although we might not have physically stunning features, we can increase our level of attractiveness by controlling our clothes, makeup, and physical exercise.

But this also something we shouldn’t overly worry about as it may lower our self-esteem, and confidence is another factor that makes us lucky. Confidence is all about focusing on the reward rather than on the risk. Our brain has an activation system as well as an inhibition system. The activation system encourages us to do things for the end reward, while the inhibition system stops us from doing things due to the risks involved. If we can push the former to overpower the latter, it opens up more opportunities for us to get lucky. But this is not always as easy as it sounds. Our confidence level depends largely on our social standing. What we can do to overcome this is to focus on our strengths and not heed to the social hierarchy. Faith in our strengths will greatly increase our confidence and will surely make us luckier.

According to Starr, being successful is not just about all the hard work we put in. Having the right genes contribute a lot to becoming successful. People from well off families are likely to have more opportunities to be successful than people from a poor background. But a perfect genetic makeup alone will not guarantee this. We need to have the right resources and the right location as well for luck to favor us. Along with this, mental toughness is also important. We should be able to look at failure and criticism and learn to improve from them.

Another way to manipulate the system to get lucky is by making use of our downtime. Rather than lazing off, we can invest it in activities that will be rewarding in the long run. We can use the time to learn a skill that will surely come in handy sometime in the future. This is all part of self-discipline or self-regulation, as controlling our desire to stick to the familiar and to slack off requires great strength. Picturing the long-term reward will help us get better at self-discipline. When an opportunity arises we should be able to use our skills and be lucky.

Having the right connections is another way we can get lucky. Knowing people who know other people means we have a huge network. This huge network will ensure that we come across more opportunities than someone who keeps to themselves. To have better connections we should be able to hold an engaging conversation with others. We should not let our inhibitions and nervousness interfere with our interactions. Rather, we should be open, friendly, and polite even when the other person does not seem to be. This will create a world of difference for our luck.

Curiosity is a quality that will facilitate the ideas Starr puts forward to get lucky. If we are curious we will be able to let go of our inhibitions and make new connections, and we will be able to learn new skills. Curiosity is essential because otherwise, we will tend to stick to the status quo. We should learn to say yes to things. Our willingness to learn new things and indulge in unfamiliar will increase our chances of getting lucky.

The suggestions put forward by Starr make it clear that we shouldn’t wait around for luck to strike us when we can, in turn, go chasing after it. While a lot of things in life may be random, we can increase the possibility of something new, interesting, and opportunistic coming our way. Knowing how to manipulate and navigate the system is all the weapon we need for this endeavor.

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