The Luck Factor

I found this article very interesting to read. I must admit I do somewhat believe in luck and superstition so I enjoyed hearing how the author basically changed people who believed they were unlucky to lucky. I also agree that behavior and attitude really affect your lifestyle, so I wasn't surprised when the people who believed they were unlucky saw dramatic changes in their lifestyle after attending his "luck school". Basically all he did was talk them into thinking like a lucky person and just like that their luck increased. I thought his experiment about the newspaper articles was pretty wild because all of the lucky people read his message, while all of the unlucky didn't even notice it because they were so caught up in counting the photographs. With that experiment in mind, there is evidence to support that lucky people are open to notice more opportunities which many people do consider lucky. Unlucky people are more anxious leaving them less likely to notice the unexpected. I think this has a lot to do with the mindset of the unlucky. If a person is constantly thinking about how unlucky they are then I feel they are almost setting themselves up for misfortune. Even if they did notice a new opportunity they would just think, "I would never get to experience that new opportunity because I'm not that lucky." This article just proves that a positive attitude about life can greatly increase your quality of life along with your "luck".
This article also brought up an interesting point which I related to our class discussion. The author noted that Olympic athletes who win the bronze medal are actually happier then those who win the silver. Those who win silver tend to think if only they did a little bit better then they would have the gold. But on the other hand, those who win silver think, if I had done a little worse I wouldn't even have a medal. Even though the author relates this to luck, I thought about the grade analogy. If a student receives a B, they might be more upset because if they had done a little better the would have gotten an A. But if a student receives a C, they may not feel as badly about it.
Overall, I enjoyed the article and found his methods of measuring luck very interesting. I am glad that his luck school helped out those who felt extra unlucky. I am even going to keep this article in mind next time I find myself thinking about an unlucky event. I just have to turn it around and find out the good that came from it; just like the bank robbery example.