Certain people, like lawyer John Woods, can be identified as lucky. He left his office in one of the Twin Towers seconds before it was hit by a hijacked plane on September 11, 2001. This wasn't the only time he had been lucky, he also was on the 39th floor of the World Trade Center in 1993 when it was bombed by terrorists and escaped without injury. And five years before that incident, he was scheduled on the Pam Am flight that exploded above Lockerbie, Scotland-but cancelled at the last minute.

There is no question that some people seem to attract good fortune, while others are a magnet for bad luck. New research into this phenomenon has revealed that luck is not always purely a matter of chance, however.

There're four major psychological differences that seem to be the foundation of luck.

• Lucky people constantly encounter chance opportunities. Lucky people tend to be more extroverted than their unlucky counterparts, and have body language and facial expressions that draw others to them. They engage in more eye contact, are twice as likely to smile and make "open" gestures to others. These encounters increase the likelihood that they may find a new opportunity for future business or success.

• Lucky people make good decisions without knowing why. When it comes to business and financial decisions, lucky people trust their gut. Many lucky people say they trust their intuition more the older they become.

• Lucky people's dreams, ambitions and goals tend to come true and be met. They believe in themselves and their futures. Unlucky people are the exact opposite.

• Lucky people have an ability to turn bad experiences into good fortune. They tend to "find the silver lining" to what happens to them and use situations as learning experiences. They tend to ponder how lucky they are as things can always be worse, often comparing themselves to others with bad fortune. Enhance your luck quotient by building your own foundations of luck. And remember, hard work makes good luck.

Source: http://www.career-intelligence.com/management/BetterBusinessSuccess.asp