A study of 700 people suggests that those who consider themselves lucky are no more likely to win lottery prizes than those who don’t.

But self-described “lucky” people do catch breaks, because they also tend to be extroverted and open, so they’re more likely to pick up cues and recognize opportunities. Consider this experiment, also conducted by Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire in England:

Wiseman had volunteers count the number of photographs in a newspaper. Lucky subjects were more likely to notice on page two the half-page ad with the message in large bold type: STOP COUNTING–THERE ARE 43 PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS NEWSPAPER.

There’s a lesson there somewhere, and if I’m lucky I’ll figure it out :-)