Why are some people luckier than others? Although many believe it, that notion simply isn't true. Here are some tools that will help you to increase your luck factor and maybe even lead a charmed life.

Learn To Follow Your Hunches

If you want good luck, a talent for following hunches is one of the most essential tools you can develop.

How many times have you been in a situation where you had a feeling that you should do something in particular? These gut feelings are hunches. It is your inner voice talking to you.

A hunch is something you think you know, but you don't know how you know it. That is why a hunch comes with that peculiar feeling of "almost not knowing." So where do hunches come from? Some think this inner voice is divine while others believe it is an ESP thing. Many psychologist think they can explain them without attributing them to the occult or ESP. They believe that a hunch is a conclusion that is based on real data or objective facts. A hunch, however, is based on facts you don't consciously know. They are stored and processed on a level of awareness just below and behind your conscious thoughts.

New York psychologist, Dr. Eugene Gendlin is an expert on this intriguing subject. He has spent most of his career studying this not-quite-conscious level of awareness. He believes that lucky people are those who have discovered how to delve down into this level of awareness and access the huge amount of information, wisdom and knowledge that is stored there.

Either way, hunches are powerful tools that are built into our minds that many of us ignore. I am sure you have had hunches that you have ignored and then looked back in retrospect and wished that you had followed them. By being more aware of hunches and gut feelings, we become more apt to follow them. Here are three major rules you should follow:

Learn to Assess Your Hunches

A hunch comes unbidden. It is a strong feeling that something is true or about to happen. In order to benefit from hunches, you must first examine the situation and the hunch you are feeling. Here are some easy guidelines that will help.

• Never trust a hunch about someone you just met. If you met somebody a half an hour ago and have a hunch about his or her honesty, dismiss the hunch as unreliable. Never commit your money or emotions on the basis of a first sight hunch.

• Unlucky people tend to make commitments on the basis of first impressions. Lucky people go back for a second look. Doing so will reaffirm your initial feeling or prove it to be false. By giving yourself a little time before coming to conclusions, you are more apt to be correct.

• If you aren't sure of a hunch, wait awhile and sleep on it. On second and third sight you may feel little tendrils of worry creeping in around the edges of your hunch. If that happens, the hunch is usually wrong.

• Never fall back on a hunch to avoid work. Any time you want to act on what you fondly believe is a hunch, ask yourself earnestly whether you are merely inventing an excuse for avoiding honest study or to avoid people who might answer your questions in a way you wouldn't want to hear. Many times, people fall into this trap, not realizing the difference between wishful thinking and hunches.
  
  
  Make Room for Hunches to Grow
  
  
  
  
  Hunches are made of facts but they come as feelings. Since many people are woefully out of touch with their emotions, they are unable to effectively follow hunches. To hunch soundly you must correctly identify and be in touch with your feelings, respect them and give them a full hearing. This is very important if you want to be able to increase your luck effectively.
  
  • Don't smother a hunch by over analyzing it. A feeling about a situation always contains vastly more information than could have been figured out intellectually.
  • Get in touch with the large vague feeling of the hunch and give it time to grow and come into focus.
  • Collect "soft" facts along with the hard data. Learn to evaluate the emotional "vibes" of people who are involved and the "feel of the room" so to speak. The ability to perceive these vibrations will come easier with practice. To become good at it, you have to do it everyday and in every situation.
    
    
    Never Confuse a Hunch With a Hope
    
    
    A lot of bad hunches are just strong wishes in disguise. This is the defining line when it comes to knowing which hunches to follow. It is also the most important factor that decides whether you are lucky or unlucky. When you really want something, it is easy to talk yourself into believing it will happen.
    
    • Examine your hunch closely. Nobody can really be sure of a hunch, but you can evaluate it by testing its strength and feeling around the edges of it.
    • Deliberately try to make your hunch break down. Argue with it by listing reasons why it might not be valid. If a hunch is not strong, or if it is based on wishful thinking, it will be unable to defend itself.
    • Recognize that you are in a situation where hunch and hope may become confused with one another. When that awareness hits you, it will make you more careful. I can not stress enough the importance of giving yourself enough time to fully evaluate your hunch.
    Lucky people typically organize their lives in an analogous way. They know that almost any venture can lead to either loss and gain. They have the ability to discard bad luck before it become worse luck. This sounds simple and no more than common sense. However, that is not always the case. A great number of people (usually the unlucky) never seem to be able to master it. They habitually get themselves stuck in bad situations and in many cases, remain stuck for life. By remembering these next two points, you can avoid this pitfall.
    
    • It's too hard to admit that you are wrong. This is one of the two main reasons for bad luck. Unlucky people get stuck in a situation by being unable to reverse decisions. This sentences them to stagnation in bad situations or in counter-productive plans of action.
    • It's too hard to abandon an investment. This could apply to a financial investment or one made up of emotions and or time. Being willing to cut your losses in order to change your luck factor is a major requirement.
    By following these guidelines you will be able to determine whether or not to follow a hunch more effectively. Keep listing these guidelines in your head regularly in order to drill them into your way of thinking. By doing this regularly, you are deliberately cultivating the habit of effectively following hunches. Make sure to follow them closely and faithfully. Remember, your luck factor will be sure to increase over time, so don't be discouraged. With time, your factor will surely grow.