Introducing the Go Luck Yourself! project

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.

You can access the first session materials here.

*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).