The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck
The Serendipity Mindset by Christian Busch is a guide to fostering serendipity in our lives.
It offers a new perspective on how to seize chance opportunities and create our own luck.
The book presents personal stories and scientific research to inspire readers to live a more open and curious life.
What is serendipity, exactly? The word itself dates back to 1754 when British writer Horace Walpole used it to describe a kind of discovery that was made unexpectedly, by accident, or through a certain foresighted wisdom known as sagacity.
This definition has more or less stood the test of time. For our purposes, we’ll think of serendipity as a positive occurrence, one made when your actions collide with chance. This means serendipity is different from pure chance, or luck on its own.
The key message here is: There are several kinds of serendipity, but they’re all different than “blind” luck of the draw – they’re about creating “smart luck.”
Generally speaking, there are three types of serendipity:
The first is Archimedes Serendipity. This is when you’re looking for a solution to a specific problem and the solution arrives in an unexpected way. The name comes from the story of how Archimedes solved the problem of King Hiero’s crown. King Hiero had hired a goldsmith to make a crown – and he’d given him a precise amount of gold to make it from. The goldsmith forged the crown, and it weighed exactly as much as the gold he’d been given, but King Hiero grew suspicious. What if it was a forgery?
So Hiero called upon the brilliant Archimedes to test its authenticity.
Archimedes thought it over. And during his brainstorming, he went to the public baths. Here, serendipity struck. Archimedes noticed how the water levels rose as people lowered themselves into the baths – and, in a flash, he knew how to test the crown.
Gold is denser than silver. This means that, if a pure-silver crown and a pure-gold crown weighed the same amount, the pure-silver crown would be larger. And a larger crown would displace more water than a smaller crown. Thus, Archimedes correctly reasoned, if Hiero’s crown had been diluted with silver, it would displace more water than if it were pure gold. It was as easy as that!
The second type of serendipity is Post-It Note Serendipity. This is when a solution is unexpectedly found for a problem that wasn’t even being considered at the time. The name comes from the Post-It note. They were invented when Dr. Spencer Silver, a researcher for 3M, was trying to develop a new type of strong glue. One attempt fell short. It wasn’t very sticky at all. But Silver was curious to discover the potential for this weak glue. It eventually became the perfect ingredient for the Post-It Note.
Finally, there’s Thunderbolt Serendipity. As the name suggests, this is when you’re struck by a solution out of nowhere. You weren’t examining any specific problem or researching any particular solution. You were just going about your day when out of the blue an idea and exciting new opportunity presented itself.
Sometimes, serendipity might be a combination or variation of these types. But no matter what, these aren’t cases of blind luck. As we’ll see, hitting upon serendipity is something you can facilitate, as long as you have the right mindset.
The Serendipity Mindset (2020) offers a practical guide to welcoming more positive and fortuitous outcomes in your life. It explains how subtle shifts in your attitude and perception can lead to dramatic differences in your ability to persevere and get positive results.
Serendipity is active, smart luck that depends on our ability to spot and connect the dots.
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Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
