How's Your Attention Span?

The goal of this blog is to add some attentiveness to your Shabbat table. Please print and share.

Our "8 Habits of Lucky People" post two weeks ago generated enough buzz for a sequel.

Twenty years ago, British psychologist Richard Wiseman ran a creative experiment.

(By the way, Wiseman holds what must be the most interesting title in his field: Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology.)
 

Here's how he describes his experiment:

I placed advertisements in national newspapers and magazines, asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Over the years, 400 extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research from all walks of life: the youngest is an 18-year-old student, the oldest an 84-year-old retired accountant.

Jessica, a 42-year-old forensic scientist, is typical of the lucky group. As she explained: "I have my dream job, two wonderful children and a great guy whom I love very much. It's amazing; when I look back at my life, I realise I have been lucky in just about every area."

In contrast, Carolyn, a 34-year-old care assistant, is typical of the unlucky group. She is accident-prone. In one week, she twisted her ankle in a pothole, injured her back in another fall and reversed her car into a tree during a driving lesson. She was also unlucky in love and felt she was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Over the years, I interviewed these volunteers, asked them to complete diaries, questionnaires and intelligence tests, and invited them to participate in experiments. The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.

Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not. I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs, whereas the lucky people took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: "Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2in high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

For fun, I placed a second large message halfway through the newspaper: "Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250." Again, the unlucky people missed the opportunity because they were still too busy looking for photographs.

Wiseman's eight-year lucky study lead to his book, The Luck Factor (note: some reviewers prefer Max Gunther's earlier book of the same title.)

In a nutshell, living a "lucky" life seems to have a lot to do with certain attitudes as opposed to actual random luck. (It turns out that true randomness in the universe is rare, and much that appears random, ain't. See also here.)

But let's say the point about attitude is true - how, then, do you change your attitude?

In a more recent book, Wiseman promotes what is actually an ancient Jewish concept, that if you're having trouble changing your attitude, start by changing your behavior.

So here's this week's question for your table:

Will acting lucky make you luckier? Will acting calm make you calmer? Will acting happy make you happier?


Shabbat Shalom


PS - Have you seen all the great summer-vacation-friendly books and toys for kids AND parents at bestjewishkidsbooks.com ?

The 8 Habits of Lucky People

The goal of this blog is to add some unpredictability to your Friday night dinner table. Please print and share.

Why is it that some people seem to have all the luck?

So is the lead for a new perspective on being lucky by Dr. Mark Banschick published in Psychology Today.

Banschick argues that lucky people aren't lucky, they live life in a certain way that makes them appear lucky.

Want to be lucky? Here are the 8 habits:

1. Time: Lucky people don’t say; “Not today, there’s always another opportunity.” When opportunity knocks, answer!

2. Optimism: Lucky people engage opportunities with optimism and good will.

3. Openness: Lucky people are prepared to be in awe of the world. Breathe deep. Each moment is precious.

4. Generosity: Lucky people understand that sharing often makes for more good energy and more connections.

5. Flow: Lucky people are easy-going. They are ready for the unpredictable, the opposite of obsessive compulsive.

6. Skill: Lucky people develop skills…. Said pro golfer Gary Player, “The more I practice the luckier I get.” This is the opposite of flow: this is developing good habits.

7. Flow Again: Lucky people stay easy-going, even as they buckle-down and work on skills.

8. Going Home: Lucky people discern when to declare a bust or a wash.

So here's this week's question for your table: 

Based on the above, are you lucky?

Shabbat Shalom


PS - My iphone and android app has been updated - if you haven't already please get the free update.

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PPS

Luck, Fate or Karma?

The purpose of this blog is to get kids of all ages talking at the Friday night dinner table. Print and share.

Here's a true story for your table tonight, followed by an inescapable question.

Take a look at this photo, to the left.

Take your time to study it carefully.

Notice the position of the white pickup truck. How do you think it got there?

Notice where the guardrail is broken where the people are standing?

Notice how the breach is on the other side of the culvert (tunnel)?

According to police, the pickup was traveling about 80 mph when it crashed through the guardrail.

It flipped end-over-end bounced off and across the culvert and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, now facing the opposite direction from which the driver was traveling.

The 22-year-old driver and his 18-year-old passenger were unhurt except for minor cuts and bruises.

This occurred near Hurricane, Utah on Highway 59, on December 30, 2006.

Here's one speculation of how the accident occurred:



Now look at this perspective on the same scene:




Think it's a photoshop hoax?

I thought so too, but Snopes doesn't think so.

Snopes' research goes so far as to give us an arial photo of the same spot:



So now the obvious question for your dinner table:

Luck, fate or karma?

As I often tell the seniors in a local assisted-living home where many are mobility-challenged: If you're here today, that means you have something to contribute to the world. Even something as "small" as a smile can change the world.

(Even if your answer to the question is "luck", doesn't this attitude make life more liveable?)

Think about it.

 

Shabbat Shalom

PS - the locals want you to know that they call their town “Her-ah-kun”. Don't want you to sound like a tourist, they say.

PPS - IMHO, the idea of karma relates to the Jewish idea of hashgacha.

 

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