How to Get Lucky

Instructions

• Step 1: Find a lucky charm Use a lucky charm. Hang a horseshoe above your front door with its ends pointing up to catch good fortune; rub a rabbit's foot, which is associated with fertility; or carry a 4-leaf clover.
• TIP: Only 1 out of every 10,000 clovers has 4 leaves.
• Step 2: Pick a number Choose 7 or 8 as your lucky number. The number 8 is lucky in China since it rhymes with the Chinese character for wealth. Ancient Babylonians revered the number 7 because of its association with the sun, moon, and 5 planets visible to the naked eye.
• Step 3: Taste good fortune To ring in the new year, cook greens like kale, which Danes eat to bring prosperity, or feast on grapes -- people in Spain and some South American countries eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight for luck.
• TIP: Make sure there's at least some food on the table at midnight, a good luck custom in the Philippines.
• Step 4: Make a wish Make a wish to get lucky. On a clear night, wish on the first star you see. Or use the wishbone -- the V-shaped clavicle bone -- from a cooked bird. Find a partner and pull opposite sides until the bone breaks -- the person with the larger piece gets their wish.
• Step 5: Make your own luck Don't want to rely on fate? Make your own luck by living a life filled with variety -- one study found that that increased opportunities to find fortune.
• FACT: Former NBA star Michael Jordan wore shorts from his college team under his professional uniform for good luck.

You Will Need

• Lucky charms
• Lucky numbers
• Cooked greens
• Grapes
• Clear night
• Cooked bird
• Optimism