This event goes beyond coincidence.
If I had run into the young
man while reading about the phenomena, and discovered that his dad had books
on the subject...that would have been a coincidence. This kind of coincidence
happens to me fairly often, because I am so passionate about what I am doing,
reading, studying at the moment, that I tend to share it with anyone I meet.
So, the chances I will share it with someone who has a like interest, or
who knows someone who does is fairly likely...but, regardless, it is still
coincidence. What makes this example different, is that the coincidental
event came exactly when I needed it too. It was as if the event had
been planned so that I would achieve the goal that I could not achieve through
my own resources. This is synchronicity.
Serendipity is something else entirely. This term comes from the legend
of the "Princes of Serendip," a mythical land that some say is
the modern day Sri Lanka. These two Princes would make marvelous plans
to accomplish wonderful things, set out on the journeys that would lead
to their goals...and, because of events beyond their control, never accomplish
what they set out to, but always accomplish something even more wonderful.
It is critical to note that the Princes always had a goal in mind,
and always made intricate and complete plans to accomplish it. I have
heard people say that they aren't making any plans at all, that they are
experiencing their lives as a series of serendipitous events. Well, they
are wrong. They are not experiencing serendipity, they are experiencing
randomness. Serendipity involves planning, followed by events beyond your
control, and the openness to take advantage of the unexpected, ultimately
accomplishing something beyond what you originally believed possible. The
world of science, of business too, is filled with stories of serendipitous
events, of times when what was accomplished was very different and much
better than the original goal.
Now let's explore the five characteristics I listed above to try and
discover the role they play in helping you take advantage of coincidence,
synchronicity, and serendipity.
1) Highly intuitive and not afraid to trust those feelings.
When I started to work at Dryken Technologies (we do transaction analysis
and data-mining for eCommerce companies) our scientists in Knoxville Tennessee
explained the theory, behind the operation of neural networks.
"They operate like human intuition. They analyze massive amounts
of data in order to identify unknown, important relationships, providing
critical information that could not be determined in any other way."
I'd never thought about human intuition as a natural process of the mind,
analyzing massive amounts of data, identifying relationships, and then feeding
me critical information that I could not have determined through a logical
thought process. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
In fact, it was the final piece I needed to explain how I was able to make
effective decisions with what appeared to be insufficient information. |
What really helped me to understand was thinking back to my years working
in and managing a retail menswear store. I was often surprised at how well
I could guess what a customer wanted even before they opened their mouth.
I would watch them enter the store and walk toward me. By the time they
reached me I'd say, "Looking for a gift?" or, "You got a
problem I can solve for you?" They'd do a quick double-take, often
asking me how I knew. I thought I was being fed the information from some
outside source I didn't understand...but that explanation never really made
sense to me.
Now, I had another explanation that made much more sense. In addition,
it explained another issue that had troubled me. For years I have been
hearing psychologists and scientists say that we used only 10% of our brains.
This never made sense to me. My understanding of evolution is that if
you don't use it, you lose it. While this doesn't necessarily happen at
the individual level, I was sure that it happened naturally at the species
level. Therefore, if we used only 10% of our brain, what's the rest of
it hanging around for? This new concept of the brain analyzing massive
amounts of data and then feeding me the information that I needed, solved
the problem.
Just think about the amount of raw data that we are exposed to, all of
the sounds, sights, scents, feelings, etc. that bombard us continuously.
Our senses don't filter out what isn't important; that process is left
up to the brain...now I believe I know what a significant percentage of the
brain is doing all of the time...acting like a neural network, analyzing data
and providing me with information. This means that human intuition isn't
some esoteric process involving something outside of ourselves, it's a natural
process designed and honed to help us interact successfully with an ever
changing environment.
2) Genuinely curious about how others think and the ideas/opinions
they have.
A natural curiosity is one of the most critical characteristics needed
to lead a successful, effective life. And this will be equally enhancing
to your personal and business relationships. With an active curiosity, a
very real interest in why things happen, why people think and/or feel the
way they do, you don't need a course in active listening.
As a leader, your most important responsibilities include solving problems
and handling conflict resolution. The first step in problem-solving and
conflict resolution is to gain understanding, and you can only gain understanding
by encouraging communication and then listening carefully, being fully open,
to what you are being told/shown. While there have been thousands of classes
teaching effective techniques for accomplishing this, none of these techniques
are worth the time and money spent on them, unless you have an attitude
that springs from a real internal need to know what's happening...a real curiosity
about what is going on, why he or she feels, or is thinking the way they
are.
These conversations lead to effective decision making, lead to knowledge
and information that you didn't have before. They provide your brain with
the data it needs to make your |