Professor and skeptic found that there’s one proven way to make yourself luckier

Are you the type of person who always gets the short end of the stick? Or do seemingly random events always work out in your favor? The interesting thing is that, according to research, whether you think you are lucky or unlucky, you're right.

The good news is that if you have bad luck , you can do some things to improve it.

Richard Wiseman studied 400 people over 10 years and found that people can control what seems uncontrollable: their luck.

Wiseman is the author of “The Luck Factor” and holds Britain’s only professorship in the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is also a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a “Skeptical Inquirer” consulting editor.

In his research, Wiseman determined that one big thing separated the lucky from the unlucky: Lucky people consider themselves lucky.

At first glance, this may seem like a simple psychological trick. People who’ve experienced a lot of misfortune will eventually consider themselves unlucky and vice versa. But that’s not the case. People who consider themselves lucky see the world differently than those who do not, giving them more opportunities for something positive to happen.

“Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles,” Wiseman wrote. “They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.”

By contrast, Wiseman found that people who considered themselves unlucky experienced more anxiety. “Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected,” he wrote.

How can I improve my luck?

If you consider yourself among the unlucky, Wiseman has 3 ways to develop a mindset that can bring more luck.

1. Write in a luck diary

Before you go to bed each night, spend about 30 seconds jotting down why you are lucky in a dairy. Take the time to list the things you’re grateful for, such as your friends, family, or health. You can also list some of the good things that happened during the day.

2. Be flexible

When you drive to work or college, take a different route occasionally. When you go to a party, start talking to the types of people you would normally avoid. Making yourself open to new experiences increases your chances of seeing new opportunities.

3. Trust your gut

People who consider themselves unlucky often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice. Whereas lucky people tend to put a lot of faith in their hunches. Unlucky people tend to focus on the rational part of a question, whereas lucky people follow their feelings. Wiseman believes this gives lucky people an advantage because gut feelings act as an alarm bell—a reason to consider a decision carefully.

Ultimately, Wiseman’s work shows that luck isn’t affected by supernatural beliefs or by holding onto a rabbit's foot. It’s the product of an optimistic view of the world that opens people up to greater possibilities. “Instead, it is about encouraging people to move away from a magical way of thinking and toward a more rational view of luck,” Wiseman wrote . “Perhaps most important of all, it is about using science and skepticism to increase the level of luck, happiness, and success in people’s lives.”