My hairdresser stopped what he was doing to my hair.

With the scissors and comb still in his hands, he walked over to the wooden counter that held his till and phone, and tapped the surface.

Then he walked back to me and continued his conversation. What made him do this?

Superstition, plain and simple.

He was talking about not getting a cold this winter, and spoke the fateful words, "Touch wood," as he patted the wooden furniture.

That was the sole reason for his journey across the salon.

It opened my eyes to the silliness of superstition, but not as much as reading about the superstitions of tennis supremo Venus Williams.

When she lost a match in Paris a few years back, she put it down to the following:

• She didn't tie her laces right

• She didn't bounce the ball 5 times

• She didn't bring her shower sandals to the court

• She didn't have her extra dress

Williams said she knew it was fate, that the win wasn't going to happen. Well, I think she brought her bad luck on herself.

And that's the difference between luck and the lottery.

No amount of rubbing rabbit's feet, touching wood, or using a lucky pen will make the lottery balls come down the chute in any different way.

The best you can do is meet that opportunity head-on. And you do that by eliminating as much that can go wrong as possible.

You are not a sportsman relying on your skills. You are simply working with numbers and odds, and that's a different ball game.

Your best bet is something that filmmaker Woody Allen once said about success and competition: "90% of success is showing up."

Show up. Play often. Simple as that.