Luck
The belief that good or bad outcomes come from something other than skill, which can be attracted, kept or turned away.
Also: good luck, bad luck, chance, fortune
Luck is treated as a quality that travels with a person or an object, and many cultures have ways to gain it or lose it: touching wood, carrying a coin, avoiding a number, the first foot over a threshold at New Year. Psychologists find that belief in luck rises with stress and with high stakes, as in exams, sport and gambling, and that small rituals can improve calm and focus. A well-known study by Lysann Damisch and colleagues in 2010 found that golfers who were told their ball was lucky performed better. Luck sits between religion and chance, and it is often the most widely held magical idea in otherwise secular societies.