Some days, it feels like nothing goes your way. Others, the sun is always shining.
Neuroscientist Moran Cerf has been studying decision-making for over a decade, and his research has shown him that far more people are in the second camp of people than the first.
Along the way, he's developed a tested method that helps him appreciate all the times he is lucky.
Here's how he does it.
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Become aware of your "negativity bias."
Cerf's research has found that free choice is a terrible predictor for happiness. Humans fall victim to all sorts of cognitive biases that cloud their impression of their lives for the worse.
One of those is the negativity bias. It causes people to remember bad or scary events, such as news stories of plane crashes, more vividly than pleasant ones.
"Our brains are geared toward thinking about negativity and scary things, because that's how the brain kind of learns," Cerf told Business Insider.
Start to collect a picture of what luck looks like.
Keep a running list of times luck was (and was not) on your side.
More often than not, Cerf has found, the times you got lucky will outnumber the unlucky moments.
Keeping a log of when luck goes your way, such as when you parked illegally and didn't get a ticket, can help you overcome that negativity bias.
Gather more data to get a full picture of your luckiness.
At the end of the month or year, you can tally up the lucky versus unlucky moments to know whether life skewed in your favor.
"Most of us are lucky," Cerf said. "That's the point."
Seeing the data can show people that their train may not experience as many delays as they think, rush-hour traffic might not be so bad, and they don't often forget their umbrella on rainy days.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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