For many people, 2010 was an unlucky year – better than 2008/2009 maybe, but still challenging. We always hope that the New Year will be “the year” – the year we lose weight, save money, quit the job, etc. But if often seems like the odds are against us and other people have all the luck.

So maybe this year, the #1 goal should be to become a lucky person.

A recent article in Readers Digest suggests that this is doable. Now maybe it won’t work for winning the lotto or my eternal dream of getting the BIG check from David Sayers of Publishers Clearing House (yes, I know his name and what he looks like; I am prepared). But according to the article there are specific ways to “get lucky” (ok, calm down, that is not what I meant).

Evidently, lucky people share these attributes:

• Seize chance opportunities. Alter your normal activities to increase these. Walk a different route, talk to new people at gatherings, read a magazine you wouldn’t normally have an interest in.
• Use positive expectations to create self fulfilling prophesies. My mom always said “Prepare for the worst, but expect the best.” So it’s not about living in la la land, it’s about not falling into the trap of always believing that only the worst will happen, because then that is all you see.
• Have a resilient attitude that sees the lucky side of unlucky situations. It’s like if you are in an accident you can focus on being miserable because it happened, or on being grateful/lucky that it wasn’t worse.

Happy New Year, and Good Luck

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” ~ Oprah Winfrey