Sometimes things just work out well even when you didn’t expect them to – seemingly against the odds. We put this down to luck. “Boy that was lucky!” But maybe most so-called luck isn’t just luck. Or, to put it another way, luck isn’t something that happens to us, but something we make happen. Something we can attract. What if luck was a muscle that you can develop and encourage?

Whenever surveys have been carried out about what people’s worst fears are, one of the top answers that consistently comes up is public speaking. So many people dread the idea of being up before an audience giving a talk or a presentation. On a rational level, you might know that you’re perfectly safe in front of an audience, but at an emotional level, a part of your mind thinks you are genuinely in danger, so it activates the body’s emergency response mechanisms.

There was a time in her life when Sophie thought she would never, ever, be able to do what you see her doing in the photo below. But there she is, giving a lecture in front of a packed audience, a lecture that includes the dreaded 'question time' at the end, and thoroughly enjoying the whole thing.