LIstening to your hunches and improving your personal luck!

I have been reading the book 'The Luck Factor' by Dr. Richard Wiseman. Among it's many interesting insights into the world of lucky and unlucky people, there is one observation that struck a chord with me. The basic idea is that lucky people both listen and follow their hunches/intuition more, whereas, unlucky people may still have the same hunches or 'a bad feeling' but they will override their reservations because they want something so badly.

For example - What if 'James' is single, lonely and felt like he had a huge 'hole' in his life because he doesn't have a partner. Someone suddenly starts to show interest in James... this new person doesn't tick all the boxes, but they're oookkkaaay. They always show up late to dates with a questionable excuse, they were needlessly aggressive with the waiter because something was off the menu, they always seem short of cash and take money from others with ease and they also have a problem or drama!

Any one of these behaviors would be a huge alarm bell for me. Always showing up late with an excuse is a sign of passive-aggressive behavior, being aggressive with a waiter is a sign of a short fuse and alpha-type behavior (in both sexes) and being bad with money on a day-to-day basis is a big sign of emotional immaturity and avoidance of responsibility.

But... if James really wanted love - he would override all these alarm bells. He would ultimately ignore his intuition and justify his involvement by accentuating all the good points of the relationship. James would basically override all red flags and see what he want to see because he is so desperate for love.

The same goes for a bad investment decision, or a bad career decision or a bad family decision. Unlucky people override their instincts to chase their acute needs.

But our instincts are ancient cognitive systems inherited from our bear-wrestling ancestors and optimized to keep us safe from all threats. If we went with our instincts all the time - we would all be unnecessarily risk averse. So where's the equilibrium?

I think it's easier to weigh up the risks and opportunities of life when you show up to the world 'whole' rather than 'with holes'. People 'with holes' are constantly trying to fill themselves up with external factors - achievements, money, love, success, attention, drugs, alcohol, etc. But if you're already 'whole' your need for love, money, attention, a glittering career is less if you already believe that you have everything the universe has to offer. I believe we were all born 'full' and 'whole' but sometimes we allow the bullets of life to shoot holes in our soul and most of us need to reconnect with our wholeness.

To up your luck, you need to show up to life as the very best person you could be. Like attracts like - the greater you are yourself the more your confidence and magnetism will warn off insecure people who are more likely to take advantage and abuse your relationship. Being great yourself will attract more 'whole' people into your life - who will help you attune your lucky instincts and help you notice red flags.

As we're fast learning in all areas of life - the key to external success lies within internal development of your psychology and spirit.

Ted Williams: Golden Voice guy...

The river of life can take some funny twists and turns.

One warm September afternoon in 2008, a took a call which began a whole new era of my life, this whole world opened up to me. It got me a new job and then another new job. It took me to far flung places, tons of new friends and enabled me to live at a quality of life I thought totally out of reach. Plus, opportunities are not great at staying within their boundaries - my personal 'win' meant that a load of other people got a good opportunity, like some strange cosmic chain-reaction.

I sometimes think of my 'right time/right place' stroke of luck. I knew of people more deserving than I. How come the opportunity floated down into my lap and not theirs? I think to myself - 'what would have happened if i hadn't answered that call?'

I've considered this time and time again. Firstly, I can't feel guilty about the fact that lady luck cast her wand at me. Instead, i take comfort in the old expression: 'when opportunity knocks, it has bloody knuckles'.

So, my philosophy is, even if i had missed that call one warm September afternoon. I would have kept doing my thang, kept interacting positivity with the world around me, kept showing up with the goods and kept being open to the possibilities. I am absolutely certain that some other exciting opportunity would have stepped forward and changed the course of my life in another way, just a different way. Now, that i've had this life changing experience, i consider myself 'lucky' and I swear that good things are attracted to this positive energy.

Ted Williams, this newly famous voice over guy is a wonderful example of opportunity in action. You can't just manifest things in the comfort of your living room. Sure - visualize it, dream about it, write it down, pray to god, feng shui your home in the most auspicious way - but, just like our buddy Ted: keep showing up in life, keep dreaming, keep believing, keep asking and formally invite opportunity into your life. With enough stubbornness, enough perseverance, enough 'tries' and lots of energy - opportunity will step forth and shake you by the hand. In interviews with JK Rowling, she describes herself as a 'trier'. She's someone who will have a go and believe in herself. I'm pretty darn convinced that 'Life favors triers'!

Wherever you're at, whatever you want to do: Keep trying :-)