The Serendipity Mindset summary

How we interpret or look back upon serendipity is important. In fact, it can make a big difference in the likelihood of serendipity occurring in the future.

For example, we shouldn’t think of serendipity as a singular event, even if it is one of those thunderbolt experiences. Instead, we should think of it as a process. Often serendipity is the result of seeds that were planted weeks, months, or years in advance. And it always requires something of you – whether it’s noticing a value that hasn’t been seen before, or drawing a conclusion that hasn’t been reached before.

Do you ever find yourself being a glass-half-empty type of person? It can happen to the best of us. In fact, having biases and preconceptions goes hand-in-hand with human nature, but that doesn’t mean it’s helpful in life. As far as serendipity goes, having strict, unbending preconceptions can be a big hindrance.

The key message here is: Being attuned and alert to serendipity means letting go of ingrained biases.

A great example of the functional fixedness bias is the Western approach to helping out nations that are trying to lift themselves out of poverty. For some humanitarian organizations, there’s only one way of doing things: the Western way. So, if a country doesn’t have the “right” kind of resources, the organization will throw up their hands and say, sorry there’s nothing we can do to help.

Fortunately, not all organizations are so fixed in their thinking. Take RLabs, short for Reconstructed Living Labs, a social enterprise out of South Africa. This is a group of free-thinking individuals who are trying to improve communities in areas like Iringa in Tanzania, and they’re doing it by finding value where others have only seen problems.

What motivates you on a day-to-day basis? Is it money? Or are you searching for something more meaningful?

There’s a good chance you’ve read or heard something about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This was developed by the philosopher Abraham Maslow over 50 years ago, but it’s left a lasting impression and continues to influence many of today’s social theories.

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of the kind of frame of mind that is best for spotting and acting on serendipity. So let’s see what we can do about generating more of it in our lives.

Sure, the whole idea of serendipity is that it’s unpredictable and unexpected, but that doesn’t mean you can’t increase the chances of it being a regular occurrence in your life.

Do you remember the Icelandic volcano eruption from 2010? One of the reasons it’s so memorable is that it brought air travel between Europe and the US to a standstill. Due to the amount of smoke and soot in the air, planes were grounded and many people had to suddenly change their plans.

One such person was entrepreneur Nathanial Whittemore. But while some people shook their fist at mother nature for ruining their plans, Whittemore made the most of this unexpected development. He turned it into a great serendipitous opportunity by reaching out to colleagues and people from his networks and quickly putting together the event that became TEDxVolcano. This spontaneous symposium on creative entrepreneurship brought together hundreds of experts and featured a livestream that was watched by thousands more.

Another characteristic of the serendipity mindset is grit, or perseverance. The road to serendipity is often paved with rejection, failed experiments, and near misses. Many entrepreneurs will tell you that they were turned away countless times before they finally found the idea that clicked with investors.

You need tenacity. Not only because it can take time for the right opportunities to present themselves, but because it often takes time for your brain to connect those important dots.

Let’s say you have your own company and want to facilitate as much serendipity as possible. Well, you’re not alone. Increasingly, a lot of businesses are doing just that. They know that things are changing fast these days and relying on stability and consistency just doesn’t make sense anymore.

So, what kind of culture and structures do make sense?

2020 has been a difficult year so far. Physical distancing has robbed us of the many opportunities for serendipity that arise from in-person interactions. Many of the traditional starting points of serendipity – like coincidentally running into someone in the corridor, or the legendary “watercooler moments” – are happening less frequently.

But there’s still a lot you can do to trigger serendipity, which is crucial during times of uncertainty. After all, it’s during uncertain times that many solutions, ideas, and opportunities tend to come from unexpected places.