The Strange Truth About Serendipitous Connections
It may sound counter-intuitive, but there’s more to serendipity than simple (and seemingly random) chance. In his brilliant book “Where Good Ideas Come From”, Steven Johnson explains that the term “serendipity” was first used by the English novelist Horace Walpole in 1754, where it had been inspired by a Persian fairy tale titled “The Three Princes of Serendip”. These quixotic princes were “always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”
Yet, as Johnson points out, discoveries are really only serendipitous if they’re meaningful to you in the first place. As such there must be some basis or connection that’s made with an event in the past that makes it serendipitous, otherwise you’re likely to let your discovery pass by without a second look.
He suggests a number of elements within our control that can create the right environment in which to foster and create serendipitous connections, whether in our professional or personal lives. They may sound obvious, perhaps even mundane, but their impact and influence is well documented.
Take a walk
When you remove yourself from an overly regimented and predictable routine — going to work, checking email, etc — your mind is free to explore different, even older connections you may have not thought about in some time. There’s no shortage of examples in history where a simple walk has led to groundbreaking discoveries.
Most recently, Professor Peter Higgs (of Higgs Boson fame) is said to have laid the groundwork for his original theory while out for a walk in the Scottish Highlands.
Reading
Johnson maintains that reading remains an “unsurpassed vehicle for transmission of interesting new ideas and perspectives”. It’s not only the volume of reading you should focus on, but also the diversity of topics and subject matter you look to tackle. The further removed from your traditional reading list the better.
Leverage Technology
Lastly, technology can play a huge role in fostering and creating serendipitous events. It allows us to track and organize volumes of information that can then be easily recalled at the push of a button — think of indexing a quote in a Kindle or cataloging a page in Evernote. Rather than being absorbed and then potentially forgotten, we can create our own customized encyclopedia of information that can be accessed at anytime or anywhere.
