Every bit of confidence helps.

Whether or not “luck” really exists is a matter that you can take up with Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, it does seem like it’s possible to maximize your lucky breaks. One key way to do that? Expect that they’ll actually happen more often.

It may sound circular, but the idea is that by expecting to be lucky, you’ll be more confident, take more chances and, statistically, the more chances you take, the more likely you are to catch a lucky break. As professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire Richard Wiseman explains, the mere act of believing that you will be lucky can have a positive effect on your performance:

Lucky people are buying into positive superstitions. In studies we’ve seen that good luck charms do improve performance, whether it’s physical skills like playing golf or mental skills like memory tasks.