The secret of luck
How your outlook on life shapes your reality
A while back, one of my British friends introduced me to Derren Brown. The deeper I dive into his material, the more I like him.
In 2011, Derren hosted a mini-series called “The Experiments”. The trailer itself is both creepy and intriguing, but we’re here to talk about the final episode.
In The Secret of Luck, he tricks an entire town into thinking that there is a lucky dog statue in order to answer the following questions:
What makes us lucky?
Why do some people live lucky lives and others experience constant misfortune?
What is this mysterious force and can it be harnessed?
The plot
Our story today begins with the statue of a dog in Todmorden's Center Vail Park.
The statue has been around since the 80’s, but most locals probably wouldn't even know it was there.
In order to keep his identity a secret, Derren enlists the help of Dawn Porter, a journalist who poses as a reporter for Channel 4 News.
Dawn tells people that they are in town to shoot a documentary, but really her mission is to spread a rumor with just one simple question:
“Have you heard about the lucky statue?”
In the first weeks of the experiment, Dawn starts planting the seeds of the lucky dog statue.
To keep tabs on how well the rumor was spreading, the crew rigged a hidden camera to monitor activity around the “lucky” statue. Slowly but surely, they found that more and more people were making their way to the park to pet the dog and see if their luck improved.
The episode focuses on seven individuals that Dawn chose at random to be the main subjects of the experiment.
In the initial interviews, Gemma from the vintage shop describes herself as “always looking at the bright side” while Wayne the butcher considers himself “jinxed”.
Throughout the episode, Dawn visits the individuals and questions them about how things have been going since petting the lucky dog.
The experiments
It’s clear from the beginning that Gemma and Wayne have opposing attitudes toward life and luck. Wayne is adamant about the fact that he is an unlucky person, so Derren puts this to the test to see if he is missing out on opportunities right in front of him.
First, they put a fake scratch-off card in Wayne’s mailbox.
A week later, they follow up to see if anything lucky has happened. To which he responds “Nothing lucky to me” - since Wayne thinks he never wins things, he ignored the scratch card and missed out on a free TV.
The next experiment was even more obvious. They placed an actor on the sidewalk asking people to take part in a market research survey.
The survey only had one question: Can you name me five cuts of beef?
Anyone who stopped and answered won £20.
However, when Wayne the butcher walked by, she tried stopping him to see if he would participate. He replied that he would be back in 5 minutes, and sure enough…
He never came back.
Derren didn’t stop here. He was determined to make Wayne see an opportunity.
So he placed a £50 note on the ground directly in his path.
But yet again… Wayne failed to see what was right in front of him.
In the final test, Derren goes to extreme lengths to get Wayne to take action.
He hires a truck with a massive billboard that says “WAYNE CALL THIS NUMBER”.
And still, it takes multiple passes of the truck for Wayne to finally pick up the phone and call the number.
Final Thoughts
I’m not going to spoil the ending for you. If you wish, you can watch the episode here.
But since Wayne did dial the number, Derren stops by the butcher shop to reveal the experiments they ran on him.
He explains to Wayne that the difference between being a lucky person or an unlucky person is just about recognizing opportunities that can lead to something else.
I loved this episode because it embodies the fundamental concept of Serendipity Lab.
To recognize opportunities and act on them.
These experiments prove that there are opportunities waiting to be seized all around us, it just comes down to whether or not we notice them.
In the real world, the signs will be more subtle, but if you keep an eye out for serendipity triggers, you can create your own luck.
Do yourself a favor, don’t be like Wayne the butcher and label yourself as “jinxed”.
When we label ourselves as something, we become that thing. And as it turns out, people who believe they are lucky, actually end up being more lucky.
Until next time my friends.
<3 B