5 Proven Strategies To Create Your Own Luck

We're often encouraged to "make our own luck," but how do you actually do that? Now science has the answer. Says Dr. Stephann Makri at University College London, one of a team who researched this very issue, lucky people have two things in common: "First, they realized that an opportunity was presented to them. Then they seized the opportunity and took action."

Sounds simple, and yet we all have a long list of missed opportunities that suggest this isn't so easy or obvious after all. Here are five ways to make sure you maximize the (potentially) lucky breaks that might come your way.

1. Be an opportunity magnet

Why is it that some people just seem to attract more opportunities than others? It's because they are open to new opportunities and they make sure everyone around them knows it. If, for example, you want to get an offer for a better job, what do you think is the best way to achieve that? Right: Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a new job. As word moves throughout your network of colleagues, friends, and relatives, chances are you will be presented with a number of opportunities.

2. Loosen up

When people are rigid and uptight, in their business or their life, then only a relatively few things fit into their definition of what constitutes and opportunity. As a result they let countless opportunities pass them by. If you find your outlook is too narrow then loosen up and allow some serendipity to enter into your life. The best opportunities, and the greatest sources of luck, often arrive from unexpected places at unexpected times. Be open to possibilities rather than shutting them down.

3. Be outgoing

If you want to be lucky you can’t be a wallflower.You've got to put yourself out there and talk to people, quite possibly in places and in ways that you might not normally be comfortable doing. If you're an introvert you'll need to make an extra effort to be outgoing. Recognize your tendency to avoid socializing or hold back in conversations, and then practice doing just the opposite. The more outgoing you are, the more opportunities--and luck--you will attract.

4. Be flexible

We all make plans in our lives: We want to achieve this particular goal by this particular date, we want to be living in this place by this date, etc. Plans are great, but luck doesn't necessarily care what your plans are. In fact, luck follows its own plan. So, when a new opportunity presents itself, you've got to be agile and ready to modify, change, or throw out altogether whatever plans you've made. The more flexible you are with your future possibilities, the more luck you will bring into your life.

5. Don't be afraid to fail

When opportunities arrive we can't be afraid to act on them. Sure, there's always the possibility that we might fail, but we can't let the fear of failure rule our lives. If you focus on the opportunity and put everything you've got into it, chances are you will succeed. Even if you don't, simply pick yourself up and quickly move on to the next opportunity. The faster you fail and move on, the faster you will ultimately succeed. Of course, you might just succeed with your first opportunity. You'd say you were lucky, but science might say otherwise.

Dale Carnegie’s Keys To Success

Dale Carnegie was a successful and famous writer and lecturer on self-development who also developed popular courses to improve public speaking, interpersonal skills and salesmanship. He is the author of many well-received books including “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” and “Lincoln the Unknown”.
Dale Carnegie rose from a humble farm background in Missouri to become successful and renowned all over the world. He advised that you can change other people’s attitude and behavior towards you by reacting positively towards them. In this article, we look at six valuable lessons we can glean from Dale Carnegie’s life and body of work.

1. Take a Chance

Do not settle for mediocrity or set your sights too low. You might be selling yourself short by opting to be too safe. To soar above the masses and an average life you should look and aim farther and back up your ambition with sincere hard work.
Treat life as a game and do not take it too seriously. Push the envelope to progress as much as possible with your God-given talents.

2. Be Enthusiastic

Dull people do not have the enthusiasm or energy to excel in their endeavors. You should have the enthusiasm to get up cheerfully in the morning and maintain the feel-good spirit all day long. To do this, you can adopt a “Do what you love, love what you do” attitude. This will help you give your best to all tasks and your daily job. If you are feeling low, just act enthusiastic and you will find the trait so infectious that you will actually become enthusiastic pretty soon.

3. Love Your Work

You should learn to love your work which is the basic prerequisite to do a good job every day and excel in your career. If you love your daily job, work will become play and you will love every minute of the day. Plus, you will not feel like taking a holiday as you are thoroughly enjoying yourself doing your daily tasks.
So take up a profession that you like and try to make a career in it. You will feel that getting paid at the end of the month is an additional bonus to the daily joy you get from doing your job.

4. Learn from Your Mistakes

We are mortals and hence bound to make mistakes. The trick is not to get disheartened by them but to learn useful lessons that can ensure you do not repeat them. Failure can be a stepping stone to success if we are open-minded about it and learn our lessons. Do not get stressed by mistakes and failure. Use them as an opportunity to analyze, learn and improve.
Nobody becomes a champion overnight and it is the brave man who can withstand the blows of fate and respond positively who emerges the winner in the long run.

5. Do Not Fear “Fear”

Many people are simply too scared to succeed in life. Don’t be one among them, but imagine the worst case scenario and then make plans to accept and improve it if it actually occurs that is.
Face your fears head on with the heart of a lion, soak in the pressure and continue to do a great job every day. You will begin to understand that fear is just a trick of the mind so learn to ignore it with time.

6. Learn to Prioritize

Effective time management is one of the keys to success. Try to complete the important and hard tasks first at the beginning of the day when you are fresh and raring to go. The easier and less important ones can be completed at leisure later on. Use your common sense and intelligence to differentiate between the profitable and mundane tasks and prepare an appropriate time-table to complete them all within the scheduled time.
Dale Carnegie teaches us that we should never compromise with excellence in all our endeavours. Make excellence a habit in every task you do. Focus on quality and give your best to your allotted job. And if things look bleak, do not become weary or discouraged, but soldier on bravely without giving up. Like the Nike slogan advises “Just do it” without ado and get the work done in time with quality effort.

We hope the above lessons of success learnt from Dale Carnegie motivates you to make the best of what you have and do the best you can every day to improve your career and quality of life.

IMPACT WORLD ARENA… INSPIRING POSSIBILITIES