For thousands of years, people have repeatedly organized important things into groups of seven.
Seven days in a week.
Seven wonders of the ancient world.
Seven seas.
Seven colors in a rainbow.
Seven notes in a musical scale.
Seven deadly sins.
The number seven shows up in religion, music, science, mythology, geography, and storytelling.
And nobody knows exactly why.
It’s almost as if humanity collectively developed a crush on the number seven.
Lucky number Seven.
Almost thirty years ago, Richard Wiseman began extensive research on luck. He was interested in why some people consistently describe themselves as lucky and others consistently describe themselves as unlucky.
He recruited people who strongly identified with one group or the other and studied their habits, attitudes, and behavior over many years.
I’m combining a lot of sources here, but basically, he organized his findings into four broad principles.
1. Lucky people create and notice opportunities
Lucky people tend to be more relaxed, open, curious, and socially connected.
They seem to:
- talk to more people
- explore more possibilities
- pay attention to their surroundings
- encounter more opportunities
They take more social and experiential chances and notice opportunities that others overlook.
2. Lucky people expect things to work out
Lucky people generally expect positive outcomes.
Because of those expectations, they are more likely to (as referenced in number 1):
- start conversations
- apply for opportunities
- persist after setbacks
- take reasonable chances
Their expectations influence their behavior, and that behavior often improves their results.
3. Lucky people respond differently to bad luck
Wiseman found that lucky people experience setbacks just like everybody else.
But they tend to:
- recover more quickly
- look for potential benefits
- avoid dwelling on misfortune
- take steps to reduce future problems
In other words, they are more resilient.
4. Lucky people trust their intuition
Lucky people tend to pay attention to their hunches, instincts, and gut feelings.
They often:
- listen to their inner signals when making decisions
- notice subtle cues that others may overlook
- draw on patterns and experiences they may not consciously be aware of
- use intuition as one source of information rather than ignoring it
People of faith, like me, see spiritual promptings working through those same moments of insight.
Wiseman’s interpretation was that intuition can help people access information their brains have already gathered but not yet fully analyzed. By paying attention to those signals, lucky people may be more likely to recognize opportunities, make helpful connections, avoid situations that don’t feel right, and invite situations that do.
Luck =
Create and notice opportunities.
Expect things to work out.
Respond resiliently to bad luck.
Trust your intuition.
Ten years ago this summer I created an opportunity to trust what I call a prompting and reached out to Darren after ten years of distance. I missed him terribly.
He answered.
In the words of Taylor Swift’s newest release,
“Love has ways of bringing things back to life.
All you said was ‘hi’ and I remembered I loved you.
Came back when it mattered, I saw you.
Standing there in the light of the window, wearing that same smile.
Man, it’s been a while.
But I knew it, I knew you.”
As luck would have it, things worked out in my favor. Today marks our seventh wedding anniversary.
Lucky number Seven.
And with him, every year gets even luckier.
I can’t wait to hear about the ways you are creating, noticing, expecting, responding, and trusting your own luck. And if you need help with any of those principles, I’d be so happy to help.
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PS If you liked this post – or any others, I’d love you to pass me and my work on to a friend. They can find out much more about me here if they’re interested!
