One of the most influential Self-Image beliefs is one that says whether we are lucky or unlucky. This one belief affects many other beliefs, including those beliefs that define whether we expect other people to respond well to us, and whether we expect to do well on task-oriented projects involving no one but ourselves.



Even if you reject the idea that our beliefs have an influence on the world around us, you can probably accept the idea that our beliefs affect the decisions we make leading to whatever results are produced by those decisions.

When a person believes they are 'unlucky', they are less likely to take action leading towards personal fulfillment and are more likely to give up when encountering an obstacle. They almost expect to fail, and who enjoys wasting their time on a project doomed to failure?

Those with a belief in their own good fortune are more likely to take action and to persist with the project until they get the results they want. Even if our beliefs did nothing other than affect our decisions, this alone demonstrates how a belief in good luck produces more positive results.

My own experience, and the experiences of many others, proves that our beliefs have a greater influence, and that they can alter the course of events outside ourselves as well. Someone who believes they are lucky will win games of chance much more often than someone who believes they are unlucky, for instance.

So where is your belief about how lucky or unlucky you are? To properly determine this, it's important to calibrate a scale on which you can measure the strength of your belief.

The concept here is that when you ask yourself a question, such as "Do I believe I am lucky?" there is a feeling that comes along with the mental answer. This feeling changes depending on the strength of the belief. But before you can ask yourself the important question, you have to start out asking questions with absolute answers to mark out the endpoints of the scale.

Calibrating a belief scale entails asking yourself a set of questions that are guaranteed to produce strong yes or no answers, such as "Do I believe I know my own name?" and "Do I believe 2+2=4?" to set the 'yes' end of the scale, and "Do I believe I live on planet Mars?" to set the 'no' end.

For the purpose of measuring the strength of a belief, we label the 'no' end of the scale at 0% and the 'yes' end of the scale at 100%. When you believe something 100%, you consider it an absolute fact, like 2+2=4 or knowing your own name. When you believe something 0%, you consider it nonsense, like the idea you're living on planet Mars.

Once you have calibrated your belief scale, now ask yourself, "Do I believe that I am lucky?" How does the feeling that comes up with the yes/no answer compare with the endpoints established earlier? Is it closer to the "absolutely yes" end of the scale, or closer to the "absolutely not" end of the scale? If you had to put a number on it (from 0 to 100), what number feels right?

A 50% belief (halfway between 'absolutely yes' and 'absolutely not') shows that your belief is split equally between "I am lucky" and "I am unlucky". Beliefs in this area of the scale indicate that your experience is balanced between positive surprises and negative surprises.

If your belief in your own good fortune measures low, such as under 30%, you can probably remember more unpleasant surprises in your life than happy ones. This belief that you are unlucky will create more obstacles than necessary and prevent you from being truly happy in life.

So how do you change a belief into something more helpful?

There are many techniques available, but perhaps the easiest one stems from a concept called "pacing and leading."

Pacing and leading is a concept from NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and is a technique taught to salespeople to persuade resistant prospects into believing that the product or service being sold is desireable. We can use the same technique on ourselves to persuade our inner minds into believing that we are lucky.

To use this technique, start with a series of statements you currently believe 100%. These can be anything, such as:

I know that 2+2=4.

I know that I know my own name.

I know that I am on planet Earth.

I know that the sky is blue.

I know that I am sitting in my office. (or wherever you happen to be at the moment.)

This series of pacing statements establishes a feeling of confidence and trust. You believe the things you hear, and your inner mind expects the pattern to continue.

Immediately after saying your list of pacing statements, say a statement that 'leads' towards what you want to believe. In this case, "I know that I am lucky."

So now the full list of statements looks like:

I know that 2+2=4.

I know that I know my own name.

I know that I am on planet Earth.

I know that the sky is blue.

I know that I am sitting in my office.

I know that I am lucky.

Repeat your list of pacing and leading statements a few times and then measure the strength of your belief in your own good fortune. You'll notice that your belief that you are lucky is now stronger than it was just a moment ago.

As you repeat this process, the strength of your belief will automatically grow, and eventually when you ask yourself, "Do I believe that I am lucky?" the response from within will sound like "Yes! Of course!"