...continues. I mentioned in a couple of previous blog posts back in September (here and here) that I had noticed a playing card appearing in the window of a local bank each morning when I walked past.
Well, some recent walk pasts have revealed that the cards have appeared again. On some days, the Queen of Spades. And on another day, the Five of Diamonds.
Still not figured out why. Just felt I should tell you... :-)
And so we arrive at session 6 of Go Luck Yourself! In this final session, we essentially bring together the ideas from previous sessions and add a few more for good measure. The aim is that by the end of the session, you are left with all you need to, well, 'go luck yourself!'. There are two parts to the session. After part b, if you completed the online questionnaires prior to the first session, you are invited to complete these measures again now. In part b, you'll hear me say that the link will be emailed to participants one week after session 6... For ease, I have simply included the link below the session 6b video.
[If you have stumbled here without having watched sessions 1-5, then you should take a look here to be suitably introduced to the Go Luck Yourself! project.]
And with those deeply wise words (!), all that is left for me to do is point you to the questionnaires for you to complete if you wish (and if you completed them prior to watching session 1)... They can be accessed here.
And you're done! Thank you for sticking with it. Do let me know if, and how, the project has had an impact. That might be through a Luck Journal you have kept, or you can email me, or simply through a comment here on the blog. I look forward to hearing from you :-)
If you now find you are 'going with the flow' more than you have ever before, have you found this has had any impact on your experience of 'luck'? Please would let me know and tell me how you're getting on using the comments section here on the blog?
In the meantime, it's time to take a look at Session 5, which is cryptically entitled 'Stercus Accidit', the meaning of which you will soon discover when you watch the first part. The focus here is about how we might use psychological ideas to help us deal with 'bad luck'. There are a total of 3 parts to the recording, plus an additional (and powerful) clip of an interview with somone called Martine Wright.
[If you have stumbled here without having watched sessions 1-4, then you should take a look here to be suitably introduced to the Go Luck Yourself! project.]
And so to the clip of the interview Martine Wright... A phenomenal and inspiring story. If the clip below is the only one you watch from your time spent on this blog, then your time will not have been wasted. It's not an easy watch, but one you will value...
Session 6, the final session of Go Luck Yourself! will be posted on Wednesday 23rd December 2015. Give yourself an early Christmas present and come back then as we bring it all together and explore some final thoughts. Until then.
As we delve into the second half of the 'Go Luck Yourself!' project (remember there are a total of 6 sessions), we are again building on what we have explored so far: embracing luck, the 'good luck mindset', and noticing and creating opportunities. Have you started to notice any changes in your experience of 'luck'? Please use the comments section on any of these blog posts to share your experience.
[If you have stumbled here without having watched sessions 1-3, then you should take a look here to be suitably introduced to the Go Luck Yourself! project.]
In this session, which you'll see is in 3 parts, we look at the value of 'going with the flow'. It sounds rather glib, but the idea is that adopting this approach to many things in our lives may be one of the most powerful ways to allow ourselves to be influenced by luck, chance, and unplanned events. Anyway, let's see what he man in the black shirt has to say...
...and when you're ready, here's part b:
Please take a moment to listen to this mindfulness practice after you
have watched Session 4b and before watching Session 4c. You are encouraged to also try listening to some or all of the other short mindfulness practices offered by the counselling service at Bucks New University here.
...which brings us to the end of Session 4! Thoughts? Please feel free to post comments here on the blog, and if you're keeping a Luck Journal then #DFYLJ!
And so we reach session three of the Go Luck Yourself! project... where the fun really starts. Session 1 invited us to first note the role that luck plays in different parts of our lives, and in Session 2 we were encouraged to adopt a 'good luck mindset', one that is characterised by gratitude and optimism. You might have found those quite easy, or a bit of challenge. Either way, when are you aready to move forward, Session 3 builds on this and look at how we might start to notice and create the kinds of opportunities that allow luck to show itself. Start with Session 3a and then, when instructed to, pause the session to watch the 'selective attention test' below.
[If you have stumbled here without having watched sessions 1 and 2, then you should take a look here to be suitably introduced to the Go Luck Yourself! project.]
Please watch this short video when instructed to do so in Session 3a.
You should pause the recording of the session above while you watch this
clip. As an added extra, (or if you have seen the video before) afterwards you might also want to take a look at this one.
When you have watched the short clip above, return to watch the rest of session 3a. As that part ends, you are encouraged to take a moment to pause and listen to the short (5 min) mindfulness practice called 'a new page' available here. When you have had a chance to do that, continue with Session 3b below in your own time. If you would like to sample some more short mindfulness resources, you can try listening to some or all of the other short mindfulness practices offered here.
So, until next time see if you can put the ideas discussed here into practice over the coming weeks and see if they help you to both notice as well as creat opportunities. If you are keeping a Luck Journal then please note your experiences there (i.e., #DFYLJ!), and feel free to share here on the blog.
Session 4, where we will look at the value of 'going with the flow' and the importance of trusting in unplanned events, will be posted in two weeks on Wednesday 25th November 2015. Follow the blog to get an alert by email when the Session 4 post goes live.
Those two weeks went pretty quickly didn't they? If you are now finding you are embracing the role that luck (or 'luck' if you are a bit of purist) plays in your life then I think you are ready to jump into Session 2, the focus of which is the 'good luck mindset'. As you'll discover, part (a) introduces the idea of the good luck mindset and explores the importance of gratitude, and part (b) extends this to look at how an optimistic outlook might be cultivated. Combined, they form the basis of what I'm calling here a 'good luck mindset'.
If you're still having a hard time appreciating the role that luck, in terms of unplanned events, chance encounters, and so on plays in your life then by all means spend a little longer with this and even watch Session 1 again. Similarly, if you have found your way here through some way other than having watched Session 1, then please take a look here first.
Take a moment note just three things (or more if you want to!) that you are grateful for, before moving on to watch part b:
So, what do you think? Will you give it a try? Would you see if and how adopting a 'good luck mindset' over the coming weeks has any impact on your experiences of 'luck'? Please use the comments section to tell me how you get on!
Session 3, where we look at some important ideas linked with noticing and creating opportunities (central to that age-old idea of "making your own luck"!), will be posted in two weeks on Wednesday 11th November 2015. Follow the blog to get an alert by email when the session 3 post goes live.
For a little more background to the project, click here. If you have already done that, or you just want to jump straight in, then by all means click on Session 1a (Overview) to get started and then Session 1b and 1c to hear more about 'embracing luck'. Enjoy!
So that, my friends, is session 1... Exciting stuff eh? Please take some time to reflect on the role of 'luck', or unplanned events, in your life to date. In the weeks to come, make a point of noticing how so many events, some seemingly quite trivial, and some more obviously significant, are down to 'luck' in the way we describe it here. And feel free to leave a comment on the blog telling me what you notice! Remember, you can get in touch to ask for a hard copy 'Luck Journal' if you would like one, or just keep your own in a handy notebook. (In the clips, you may hear me referring to an online version on 'Blackboard'... this was something we only used the first time the project ran.)
Session 2, exploring the 'good-luck mindset' will be posted on Wednesday 28th October 2015. Follow the blog to get an alert by email when the session 2 post goes live.
A cursory browse through the archives of the blog would reveal more than a passing interest here in the concept of luck.
To be more precise, my interest is in the psychology of luck. That is,
how we tend to think about luck and how this impacts upon how we deal
with those kinds of experiences we typically attribute to luck. With
this in mind, last year I put together a little research project to
explore how ideas drawn from positive psychology might impact upon
people's experiences of 'luck'. The project consisted of six sessions, under the title of 'Go
Luck Yourself!'*, and was very much inspired by Richard Wiseman's 'Luck
School' as described in his book 'The Luck Factor' (which I've written
about in a post some time back).
The
project ran over 12 weeks, with a fortnightly session running on a
Wednesday lunchtime on the campus of Bucks New University (where I work)
and posted online later the same day. The reason I'm telling you all
this is because I'm going to post these recordings, and associated
materials, on this blog over the coming weeks in the hope that a few
more people may access them and perhaps even contribute data. [Update (Dec 2015): All six sessions are now on the blog, and are designed to be viewed fortnightly. Feel free to work through all six sessions as quickly, or as slowly, as you wish!]
You will hear me talk
about something that is excitingly referred to as a 'Luck Journal' (it
is a book with the words 'Luck Journal' on the front...). I have a small
number of these if you would like a hard-copy journal to write in. You
can either email me your address at matthew.smith@bucks.ac.uk or leave a
comment on the blog to tell me where you would like me to post it to.
*I am indebted to Scott Cornwall for the project name. A couple of years ago, he suggested I should write a book called Go Luck Yourself!, or Luck Off!, or For Luck's Sake!,
etc. You get the idea. The GLY! suggestion is the one that stuck as it
really captured the idea behind this project... What things can you do
to influence your own luck. Thank you Scott, I am indebted to you
(though let me abolutely clear that this is in a metaphorical sense, not
a financial one).
Five of diamonds? Anyone thinking of the five of diamonds? No? Oh well, I guess in time, if enough people read this post then at least one of you will have been thinking of the five of diamonds.
The reason I ask is that every so often I walk past a certain high street bank down the end of our road, and in the window of the bank is a playing card. Not every day, just some days. The other day it was the five of diamonds. So I took a picture.
I don't know why the card is there, I can only assume that somebody who works there (or a customer?) is putting the card there as some kind of set-up for a magic trick? Any other suggestions?
One of the things that has brought me back to blogging is that I recently submitted my reflective journal for a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Technology-enhanced Learning (T-eL). This was, in part, supposed to capture my learning journey on the PGCert over the past year so don't tell anyone that I actually wrote (revised and edited) many of the blog posts in the month or so before I submitted it... If you're interested in T-eL, e-learning, or learning and teaching in general, please feel free to take a look.
It's clear that T-eL is now very much a central part of learning and teaching at all levels, and will only become more so in the years to come. Etienne Wenger-Trayner is a key theorist in this space (as they say) and it is from him I borrow the title of this post.
That's the sound of a blog limping back to life. This blog has been in a bit of 'suspended animation'... a 'hiatus' if you will, for well over a year. It's about time I attempted to breathe a little life back into it. What I'm saying is, my intention is that I will start blogging again. Big deal, you say. (Big assumption that there is a 'you' that is reading this!)
...continues. I mentioned in a couple of previous blog posts back in September (here and here) that I had noticed a playing card appearing in the window of a local bank each morning when I walked past.
A cursory browse through the archives of the blog would reveal more than a passing interest here in the concept of luck.
To be more precise, my interest is in the psychology of luck. That is,
how we tend to think about luck and how this impacts upon how we deal
with those kinds of experiences we typically attribute to luck. With
this in mind, last year I put together a little research project to
explore how ideas drawn from positive psychology might impact upon
people's experiences of 'luck'. The project consisted of six sessions, under the title of 'Go
Luck Yourself!'*, and was very much inspired by Richard Wiseman's 'Luck
School' as described in his book 'The Luck Factor' (which I've written
about in a post some time back). 
