How Increased Energy Produces Luck
Here is a statement so obvious that one may easily lose sight of its significance: Much of our greatest luck comes to us when our energy is high.
Heightened energy manifests itself to us in a number of specifically luck ways—sometimes in a display of muscular power to meet a sudden chance, but more frequently in a state of mind. Notably, three psychology attitudes are closely linked to luck: presence of mind, confidence, and determination.
Presence of mind is a kind of alertness. As soon as we have identified the chance, the alert condition undergoes a profound change. We no longer watch concentratedly for something to happen. It has happened. Our problem now is how to respond. Instead of keeping attention focused entirely on the chance event, we survey our surroundings—we “get the picture”—we see what things or circumstances near us can be of use in responding to the chance. The more “present” our mind is, the more likely we are to respond luckily to the chance.
Confidence is vital to our luck development. Preparation induces confidence. Especially in those instances that involve other people, like your subject if you are a journalist, or your partners if you are an investor. Preparatory study of the facts makes for luck. Of course, no one is confident all the time, or in the face of all chances. Our need is to use periods of high energy to prepare for the chances of life that seem most probable.
Like confidence and presence of mind, the quality of determination is also associated with high energy. Some people are more determined than others because they are able to renew their energy in relation to an activity. Often a person has high energy at the outset of a project, but it dissipates. Determination grows out of the repeated tapping of your energy reserves in the pursuit of a single purpose. This usually occurs: 1) When you are focused on a definite purpose, and you keep your aim constantly in sight, stimulating hope and renewing incentive. 2) When you prevent yourself from growing stale through an occasional change of activity, which makes possible a zestful return to the attack.
High energy is in large degree the expression of an attitude toward life. “A single successful effort of moral volition,” wrote William James, “such as saying ‘no’ to some habitual temptation, or performing some courageous act, will launch a man on a higher level of energy for days or weeks, will give him a new range of power.”
It must also be said that anyone who fails to make an effort to eat and drink wisely, to get enough exercise and rest, and to shake off his worries, greatly weakens his power to respond successfully to life’s chances. Any effort we make to raise the level of our energy by improvement in these essential aspects of living automatically tends to improve our luck potential.