When this topic comes up, people sometimes confuse it with "The Secret," and fuzzy-headed talk about "the power of positive thinking," and get angry.  So I want to be clear up front: first of all, Wiseman is one of the most prominent skeptics at work today.  Wiseman is a long-standing member of CSICOP (The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), and is a well respected and professional skeptical researcher.  

(I'm very eager to read Wiseman's new book "59 Seconds," in which he details what he calls "evidence based self help."  In other words, self help advice based on actual research, rather than "what some guy says.")

Second of all, Wiseman isn't talking about luck as a phenomenon.  Rather, he is talking about the characteristics of people who consider themselves to be either "lucky" or "unlucky."  Wiseman isn't concerned with whether or not either group actually experiences better or worse luck in life.  (Although he did some fascinating research into superstition, including having people throw dice after having their paths crossed by either a black cat, a white cat, or no cat at all.  Unsurprisingly, the results were the same for all three groups.)

To the contrary, it is this self-identification which Wiseman is investigating.  And it turns out that you can draw some interesting conclusions.

Wiseman has found that people who consider themselves lucky are actually better at exploiting their environment than people who consider themselves unlucky.  Over and over again, Wiseman watched as self-described "lucky"  people noticed tangential bits of information, whereas "unlucky" people became so stressed out about achieving their stated goal that they developed tunnel vision, and failed to notice the opportunities before them.

In one case, this was a very literal opportunity before them.  Unlucky people, tasked with counting the number of photographs in a newspaper, overlooked an ad that said "Tell the researchers you saw this, and they will give you a cash reward" in letters that were two inches tall!

In a broader sense, unlucky people are less likely to notice the opportunities that drift past them in life.  The conclusion that can be drawn from this (although Wiseman doesn't go so far as to draw it himself) is that we are literally swimming in opportunities - we just don't notice them.  Good luck is everywhere, but it can't help you if you don't see it.

To break it down further, Wiseman reported that "lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good."

Although Wiseman's research has applications in all aspects of life, his "variety" conclusions are probably the easiest to implement.  Wiseman has found that "variety boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities."  If there is one thing you can do to increase your odds of getting a lucky break, it's to climb out of your daily rut.  Talk to someone new, go to a new coffee shop on your afternoon break, eat lunch in a different lunch room.  Break your routine in one way every day, and see what happens!