Posted on 25/03/2019
1. Eat a telur mata kerbau without breaking the yolk
There have been many arguments on how important breakfast is to start off the day. A
good breakfast can result in you being more alert, healthy, and apparently even help
you lose weight. But for Syaza, breakfast also affects her luck for the rest of the day.
Ever since she was a little girl, Syaza’s favoritest breakfast food in the whole wide world
are sunny-side eggs, or locally known as telur mata kerbau… except she liked leaving
the whole, unbroken yolk to be eaten last. At some point she realized that whenever the
yolk got broken, it didn’t only ruin her breakfast – it ruins her entire day ._.
One day, I accidentally broke the yolk and I had a really really unlucky day in
school. Kena scolding, misunderstanding with friends, and fell down from the
bicycle. It was a really bad day. And I realized these things always happen on the
day I ate a broken yolk. – Syaza
Research in sports psychology has shown that rituals (consistently doing things a
certain way) have can have very real effects on how athletes perform. Kinda like a selffulfilling prophecy, they kinda convince themselves that they’ll lose if the ritual (or
lucky charm) doesn’t happen. This may scientifically explain Syaza’s method, or
perhaps life just enjoys playing yolks on us.
2. Ask your crush to wish you luck
By now you would have realized that there are many charms
and methods that can be used to turn luck in your favor but, as Elvis once sang, no four
leaf clover or lucky penny can ever beat the luck brought by the woman of your dreams.
We’re pretty sure Nasrul would agree with The King on this one since his good luck
charm is none other than his crush.
“Before I enter a contest, I will text my crush and ask her to wish me luck. I know
she’s my lucky charm because if she wishes me good luck, I’ll always win the contest;
and when she doesn’t, I won’t win anything.” – Nasrul
In fact, Nasrul just pulled off a double win in January because his crush’s good luck
wishes hasn’t only won him THIS contest (congrats bro) but also an earlier one for the
premiere screening of the upcoming Resident Evil movie. We really hope you brought
your crush along for the movie
3. Look out for lucky numbers
Many cultures believe that numbers can affect luck, with the easiest example being the
Chinese infatuation with the number 8 (because it sounds like “Prosperity” or “Wealth”).
But while most people go out of their way to get the lucky numbers and avoid the
unlucky ones, Alissa‘s lucky number comes to her.
“My family and I have always had strange sightings revolving around the
number 42 or 24. Every time we see it, it’s either something good had just
happened or is about to happen.” – Alissa
Alissa tells us it all started when her mother bought a Proton Satria with the plate
number BFF424, and they’ve started seeing the numbers everywhere since then, from
her UPSR results (You got 42 A’s???) to when they moved to a new house – it showed
up in both their house AND phone number! She didn’t give us her address or phone
number as proof, but sent a picture of her first ever lottery ticket, which she also
won. Guess what the winning numbers were?
She was in the US at the time.
But the number doesn’t always show up and, when things aren’t going well, stops
appearing altogether:
“My now-husband and I were in a long-distance relationship for 8 years. There were
plenty of off and ons, and every time we broke up, 42 stopped appearing until we got
back together again.” – Alissa
And when they got married, guess what decided to show up?
And no, it wasn’t planned.
Alissa doesn’t really have an explanation for why this happens, but she thinks it’s pretty
coincidental that in Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the number 42 is
the answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Works for
us
So much for “Sui” Chinese Lucky Numbers.
4. Wash feet before sleeping
Original image from Prevention.com
Other than for hygienic reasons, the idea of feet-washing for religious or cultural
reasons have been around for a really long time. For Anuradha though, washing her
feet makes all the difference between a good night’s sleep and being kacau-ed by
unseen things 😯
Anuradha picked up the practice after spending her uni days at a campus in Sintok,
Kedah:
“I’ve heard, felt and seen some pretty strange things during my time there. One of
the most common “tips” from our seniors to prevent spirits and ghosts from
following you back is to wash your feet before you get in bed.” – Anuradha
Unfortunately for Anuradha (and fortunately for her friends and hotel owners), she got
so used to the feeling of having clean feet before sleeping that she’s continued the
practice no matter where she’s staying!
But one time, she was so tired after a late night out that she collapsed into bed and fell
asleep with unwashed feet. Here’s what happened in her own words:
“For a whole month I had strange and very lucid dreams of people I’ve never met
before — some would float next to me and talk to me, some would try and grab my
hands or just cry…it was very disturbing and took a while to get rid of them.” –
Anuradha
You might be wondering what this has to do with luck and, well… there’s the belief
that spirits are able to affect a person’s luck, but also on a more down-to-earth note, not
having enough sleep tends to make you depressed and affects your ability to make
good decisions; leading to increased chances of getting into accidents. Which, y’know,
could be a sign of “bad luck”.
5. Use Kopi O to attract luck
Whenever Sean feels anxious over a big event like exams, he starts his day with one
and a half cups of Kopi O. But that isn’t his secret… his secret is that he only drinks
one cup – the half cup is for the Powers That Be.
“I found that the easiest way to get good grades is to ask the Powers That Be, so I
offer half my Kopi O to whichever Power is willing to help. I don’t discriminate.” –
Sean
Sean claims that his method has a 90% success rate, like literally 90% because his
grades jumped from the mid-50s to the high 90s ever since he started doing it. He also
tells us that he has failed some classes, but they don’t count because he never intended
to pass them in the first place ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He’s also used this method for business purposes since he sells trading cards in his
spare time:
“I also do this when I have big sales coming up, and none of my buyers have ditched
me so far. In fact, they buy even more from me!” – Sean
But bribery aside, Sean thinks that his method works on a psychological level as well…
it helps him manage the anxiety he experiences before important events; and because
he’s still studying he tells us that there will be plenty more Kopi O’s to come!
6. Let your lucky charm make decisions for you
Nelson actually told us that he has two lucky charms, the first of which is a pair of really
old sports shoes that he wears to win sports events. However, it’s his second charm
that got our attention because it’s a Maneki-neko or Lucky Cat in English.
Like this one!
Nelsons actual charm!
But what makes Nelson’s on unique is that it has a hole on the bottom so when you
shake it, it’ll berak out a tiny metal plate that says “Good Luck”, “Bad Luck”, or nothing
at all. Plus, it’s small enough that he keeps it hanging from his pencil case – great for
bringing into exams!
If you’ve ever tembakked answers in an objective paper before, you’d definitely know
how stressful shading that little dot with your pencil can be:
I once sat for a really difficult paper and felt absolutely hopeless. Since I knew there
was a high chance I’ll be failing, why not try my luck with the cat? Maybe it’ll change
my fate! Amazingly, I did decently well for that paper… Somehow I idiotically
trusted the cat hahaha. – Nelson.
And since then, there was no turning back as Nelson has used the cat to help him out
with other exams since. He says that the cat gets the answer right most of the time too
“My cat’s accuracy can fight the octopus that predicts the World Cup results!” –
Nelson.
So all ya’ll World Cup kaki know who to ask for predictions next time la
7. Touch your friend’s lucky charm without permission
Of all the entries on this list, Marcus‘s technique made us laugh the most because of
the trolliness involved.
An Omamori. Image from Kumoorion via Pinterest.
He tells us that the lucky charm involved is an Omamori – a small talisman wrapped in a
silk envelope that’s very common in Japan. A number of years back, his friend visited a
Shinto temple in Japan which also sold souvenirs… including a selection of Omamori:
“Without any hesitation and with the flick of his thick wallet, he bought a small red
Omamori as a lucky charm. As expected with his teasing personality, he always
“berlagak” with his lucky charm right in front of me!” – Marcus
Both of them were medical students, which most people would agree isn’t the easiest
course in the world. Marcus (like many students) struggled with the course and one day,
in desperation before a particularly challenging exam, decided he needed some help…
“There it was, the Omamori lucky charm bag left unattended, forgotten and deserted
on the table. Vulnerable as it appeared, I touched the red bag…” – Marcus
Perhaps because the charm was tired of being neglected, it seemed to welcome the
attention it was getting and made sure Marcus noticed as well:
“All the topics I hoped for came out! Not just that, the invigilators were caring
enough to give me tips during exams but rejected my friend’s request for attention!
The funniest part was I scored top marks and my friend barely passed as though his
marks was credited to mine macam bank account!” 😆 – Marcus
Ever since then, Marcus has been curi-curi touching his friend’s Omamori before
any important occasions despite the death threats from his friend. So if there’s a
lesson to be learned here, it’s that you should always take care of your lucky charm or
someone might steal them away from you.
Surprisingly, science shows that good luck charms actually work!
… But not in the way you think.
Basically, researchers have found something that your skeptical Uncle Margaret has
been saying for years – that it’s allllll in your mind. Whether or not you believe in lucky
charms or practices, believing that something is
“lucky” improved confidence and concentration… y’know, 2 things that really go a
long way if you’re under stressful conditions like an exam or a competition.
The other thing is that there’s always an element of repetition when it comes to lucky
charms or rituals – you must always do it a certain way, or it must always be there in
order for you to be lucky. This is because human beings are creatures of habit; we
naturally look for patterns and follow them even if tak lojik, so if you happen to be
looking at a picture of Donald Trump and got a call saying you’ve been promoted, you
might start thinking Donald Trump brings you luck. This is called conditioning, and when
you lose that charm or forget to do that ritual, you’d expect things to turn out bad. This
affects your confidence and concentration, and yea…. basically a self-fulfilling prophecy
la.
If you still like the idea of a confidence boost, the best part is that you don’t even need
to follow the methods in this article, since anything can be lucky as long as you believe
it can make you get lucky.
… But not in the way you think. Or not