in a fascinating experiment, university of hertfordshire professor richard wiseman asked people who considered themselves very lucky or very unlucky to count the photos in a newspaper. the unlucky ones took two minutes, the lucky ones took two seconds. why? because on the second page were the words, "stop counting, there are 43 photographs." the unlucky people literally blinded themselves to anything beyond what they assumed to be the rules. good decisions and good fortune, it seems, are about the fine line between having enough certainty to act, but also inviting enough uncertainty to remain open to the possibility that something better or unforeseen lies just beyond your view. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for wednesday, november 9. i'm tom hudson. good night everyone, and good night to you too, susie. >> susie: good night tom. i'm susie gharib. good night everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by wpbt cap