What does it mean to be “lucky’? When you take a closer look at how you use the word, what are you really saying? “They just got lucky?” Is this not just an excuse? Not a way to give a yourself a comforting explanation for why someone is succeeding and you are not? Is it not a way to rationalize away your behavior? To defer responsibility? An excuse for not working hard? An argument for why it’s ok to not even try?

What is luck really? When you look more closely at those who you claim are “lucky”, what makes that so? Did they not work hard? Did they not remain determined when the going got tough? Were they not committed 100%, refusing to take their eye off the ball? Sadly most of us use luck as a way to give up on their dreams, as an excuse for why they envy we feel towards those who have had the discipline needs to make what they wanted a reality.

Every moment of every day we are faced with a choice. We can choose to take responsibility for ourselves and our lives, or we can choose to react, be a victim of circumstances, a victim of life. We make tiny decisions in every moment: a choice to have to have the last word, a choice to watch the news, a choice to listen to sad songs, a choice to focus on how tired you are, a choice to have just one more drink, or to press snooze just one more time. When you add up every little tiny decision what you are left with is the sum total of your life experience. Those we call the “lucky ones”, and those who we say are not.

We also know undoubtedly that those who have a positive outlook on life make their own luck! The have a radar for opportunity! They welcome it! For example they may run into someone with a job opportunity, or notice money someone dropped on the ground, where an “unlucky” person would not feel ready for a job opportunity or would walk by the money without noticing it.

What many of us don’t realize is that how we feel, what we believe, and what we think determines what we see in the world around us…literally. We are under the false impression, that we are neutral observers, passively sensing a physical world that has an objective truth to it. That however is untrue. You are not a neutral observer but a powerful participant, self selecting from the world that which matches what you believe, how you feel, what you think, and what you expect. If you don’t believe me, then take the word of one of the worlds leading scientists on the subject of consciousness and perception, Dr Anil Seth. In his 2017 TedTalk Seth explains, “we don’t just passively perceive the world; we actively generate it,”. In a 2018 follow up interview on TedTalk radio Seth goes on to say “…the truth is that all perceptions are acts of interpretation. They’re acts of informed guesswork that the brain applies when it encounters sensory data. I think the way I can think of this is that there is no light in the skull, and there’s no sounds. All that’s going on in the brain are electrical impulses whizzing around in complex patterns. And out of all this – all this pattern-making in the brain, a world appears”.

Research has shown that those who feel particularly unlucky have an unlucky lens, viewing themselves as powerless, as the vicim, as unable to effect the change that they so desperately desire. As a result they create the very thing that they don’t want most.

The challenge we all face is in really understanding, knowing that if nothing is ever our fault, we never have the power to change it either. The moment you stop seeing yourself a a victim, you become empowered! You realize it is all your doing! Every bit of it And once you get over the anger you feel from hearing me say that, you can finally step into the life that you want and deserve!

People have called me lucky many times. My family, my friends and people I don’t even know. I have noticed the envy that some people feel when I tell them my story. The fact of the matter is, that my journey to this point has been long and hard. I have created my own situation, my own “luck”. I have done it by making the right choices in the circumstances that have presented themselves to me, and most importantly believed I was in fact empowered to create the life of my choosing,

The best thing is that this concept can be applied to everything in your life. I continuously put myself into situations where I believe I might be “lucky”. So, if you are a person who believe you were born unlucky, I challenge you to try and change your mind-set and turn your luck around. After all, what have you got to lose?