October 1st, 2008 by Dave Perks

Serendipity

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Filed under Productivity, Tips, Tricks & Hints

 

I have a few playlists set up in iTunes that I listen to on a fairly regular basis. All of them are different, but I listen to them enough that I don't want them to play in the same order every time. I rarely get all the way through one list at a time, so if I started with the same songs, I'd never get all the way through it. For that reason, I have them all set to shuffle so that the list gets reordered every time I listen.

Today, I opened one of my lists, hit play and then did what I always do: I looked for the first spot where I might get bored with it. But this time iTunes got it 100% right. Granted, I'm the one that added the songs. But the order it spit out is perfect. For me. Probably not for you, but if you want to see what perfection looks like to me, here you go:

But this post isn't just about the first 30 songs in a playlist. It's about the serendipitous events that happen around us all the time, and how to take advantage of them.

The word serendipity (noun) can be defined in a couple ways:

1: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

2: good fortune; luck

The arrangement of my iTunes list falls under the second.

My skill (and ultimately my success) as a writer depends on the first.

Every day, the door is open to serendipity. Opportunities either pass you by or they make an impact on you. There's no in between. Either they mean something or they don't.

It can't be forced. It's not something you can go out looking for. That would defeat the purpose. What you can do is open yourself up to it. The more opportunities you give serendipity, the more opportunities it will give back to you.

So go for a walk without your iPod (yes, I'm aware I started this post with grandiose praise for iTunes) and open your ears to the world around you. Watch the documentary that Netflix sent you a month ago that you thought might be cool. It probably is. Read a book. Talk to a stranger. Try new foods. Sit on a park bench and see what goes by.

Just make yourself available. But not because you're waiting for divine intervention. Do it for the experience and don't be disappointed if you're not struck with a grand new insight. If all you get out of it is an enriching experience, you still come out ahead.

Go do something.

Speak up.

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