How lucky do you want to be? (Published on IFAonline 19-09-07)
The idea that it is a good thing to be lucky has been around for some time. A quick search of any internet quotes engine will tell you things like “it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good” and “successful people are very lucky, just ask any failure”.
However sometimes luck gets some bad press; ‘he just got lucky’ implies that success was purely chance. “First you’ve got to be good, but then you’ve got to be lucky” suggests that luck is just the icing on the cake on something that is already not bad.
But how about Tennessee Williams quote “luck is believing that you are lucky”. Now this is intriguing: if you combine this with the concept of free will – that we all have the capacity to choose how and what believe – then we all have the capacity to choose to be lucky.
Recent scientific research by Dr Robert Wiseman, published in his book The Luck Factor, throws up some fascinating insights into lucky and unlucky people – insights that are relevant in all walks of life, including that of the Independent Financial Adviser.
The question should perhaps not be “How lucky are you?” but rather “How lucky do you want to be?”
Wiseman’s research into both lucky and unlucky people identified four characteristics of luck:
- Lucky people turn bad luck into good
- Lucky people expect good fortune
- Lucky people maximise their chance opportunities
- Lucky people listen to their hunches
The scientific research therefore supports the following ideas:
- Advisers who expect to get referrals to other clients are more likely to get them
- Advisers who expect to attract top quality clients are more likely to do so
It is better to be an adviser who secures a proportion of a client’s wealth to manage and who interprets that as “I am so lucky to get a client like that” rather than feeling “I am so unlucky not to get all their money”
The more happy, satisfied, existing clients you ask for referrals and recommendations (in a professional way) the luckier you will be at securing those referrals
Business owners and advisers that listen to their hunches and intuitions will be luckier at making good decisions
We are the stories we tell ourselves. If you want to know more, read the book. If you want to be luckier, follow the four principles.
Jim Constable is a senior consultant at FP Advance
The views expressed in this article of those of its author and do not necessarily represent those of IFAonline or any other Incisive Media affiliated organisation.
This article was first published by IFAonline
