Stacking the Cards in Your Favor

Reenstra made a demo tape of her travel adventures, and after auditioning dozens of actresses, Discovery's "Animal Planet" announced the host of its new show "Ms. Adventure" -- Rachel Reenstra.

Ready for Luck

Wiseman explained that another essential trait of the lucky was that they were always prepared. "They were the ones that put a huge amount of effort, so that when that break came along, they were there."

As part of a BBC documentary on his study, Wiseman conducted hidden-camera experiments with self-described lucky and unlucky volunteers. In one trial, he planted money on the street to see who would pick it up. The lucky people tended to notice the money more than the unlucky people.

He said, "The lucky people are very open to these unexpected opportunities. They're a bit more laid-back. They're seeing the bigger picture."

Another experiment demonstrated that lucky people also tended to attract other people. Wiseman planted a lucky and an unlucky person in a cafe, and then sent subjects in to buy a cup of coffee and sit down. Almost every subject decided to sit next to the lucky person, a successful businessman.

"It's a very subtle difference in body language," he said. "The lucky people have very open postures, a lot of eye contact, drawing people towards them or smiling, asking about them and not talking about themselves all the time."

"The unlucky people were exactly the opposite. They had their arms folded, weren't really interested in others," he said.

'Hello, My Name Is Scott'

Speaker and author Scott Ginsberg, 27, has no problem finding people to talk to. "I've probably had encounters with over 100,000 people," Ginsberg said.

His popularity is fueled by an accessory that may make most people uncomfortable: He always wears a name tag.

"What is with the name tag? Well, I get that probably three to five times a day. And it's been approximately 2,237 days that I've been wearing this 24/7," he said.