1) Be an optimist.
Think about the luckiest person who you know and it's likely that he or she is a happy extrovert who has an approach on life that is open and relaxed. There is a good reason for this, and that is optimistic people will tend to believe that they generate their own luck. Even more so, these people tend not to dwell on past misfortunes.

This type of person also favours cooperation rather than competition. Thus creating an atmosphere that is positive and welcoming when they interact with other people. This increases the chances for good business networking, and by trusting others, lucky people seem to create opportunities and eventually luck finds them!

2) Learn from your mistakes.
What makes people different is often their reaction to mistakes or failures. Often you'll find that pessimistic people who brood about mistakes will tend to think of themselves as unlucky. Those who learn from the mistakes and move on will stand to gain more, and make their own luck.

A famous quote comes from Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, when asked if he was discouraged after over 1000 failed attempts he replied, “Not at all, now I definitely know more than a thousand ways not to make a light bulb.”

3) Your Instincts serve you well, listen to them.
Lucky people will trust others and themselves. They have a tendency to follow their gut instincts, and have the bravery to act on intuition. Think about people you know who might have acted on instincts in the past and struck it lucky. In 1976 Anita Roddick took a courageous step and opened a shop selling organic beauty products.

The Body Shop as it was named is now a multi-million business. Another wonderful story is how Alexander Fleming followed a hunch to discover penicillin. One day he left a window open in his lab, and a piece of mold settled on one of his Petri dishes that had bacterial samples. The following day, he noticed that the bacteria had been eliminated and upon further investigation, the research from this event led to the discovery of penicillin, one the most significant moments in medical history.

4) Open yourself to new experiences.
Lucky people tend to be more open to new chances and therefore open up opportunities which might otherwise have been missed. Prof. Richard Wiseman, author of The Luck Factor: Changing Your Luck, Changing Your Life - The Four Essential Principles, has conducted numerous experiments on luck over the last decade. In one of his experiments, he asked a group of people to count the number of photos that appeared in a newspaper.

People who thought themselves unlucky took 2 times longer to count than those who thought they were lucky. Why? The professor had cunningly placed a notice on the second page stating, “Stop counting, there are 43 photographs in this newspaper.”
The unlucky people were so caught up in searching the paper that they failed to notice this half page notice! The more open and relaxed people saw this and took the chance.

5) Expect good fortunes.
Ever heard of the term self-fulfilling prophecies? Well it seems that those who think of themselves as having good fortunes will somehow harness the power to achieve it themselves, even though it might be subconscious. Even sports psychologists say that visualizing that you are the winner will often give such a massive positive boost that you will make that dream a reality.

Again, when Prof Wiseman researched this, he found those that thought themselves lucky would carry positive lucky charms, like clover leafs or rabbits foot, however those that thought themselves to be unlucky tended to do things that avoid bad luck, e.g. crossing of fingers, or not walking under a ladder. By becoming anxious, it's almost as if you are inviting bad luck.

6) Don't hesitate.
When good fortune comes about, those lucky people do act on it immediately. When these people are confronted by opportunities, the either act immediately, delegate or forget about it. It's this way that lucky people stay focussed on what they really want, thus saving their energy to achieve it.

7) Don't point or blame others.
It's simple, lucky people take responsibility and account for their own actions. They don't go around blaming the color of the carpet or the noise from the crowd. Professional sports men and women compete in tough situations all the time in front of audiences, and you will never hear them complaining about the noise from the crowd.