Two Phenomena Associated With Luck — Coincidence And Serendipity

Published: Sept. 29, 2022, 8 a.m.

• Coincidence and serendipity are related to good luck. We all would like something beneficial and fortuitous to happen to us for seemingly no good reason. We can’t create positive random chances, but We can foster a “serendipity mindset” that helps us take advantage of the chances that come our way.

• Serendipity means different things to different people, but generally, it is the combination of seemingly improbable occurrences plus positive personal feelings about them. We can cultivate a serendipity mindset by recognizing triggers in daily life, drawing connections to other unrelated areas, and finding potential value in that link.


• Making use of the unexpected requires that we are optimistic, open-ended, comfortable with ambiguity, extraverted, and good listeners, as well as willing to make mistakes or entertain unexpected outcomes. We need to be proactive and curious about what emerges spontaneously.


• The real difference between the status quo and serendipity is in the effort you put in following a chance happening, and the meaning you can assign to events after the fact.


• Statistician David Hand claims that although coincidences seem surprising, “extremely improbable events are commonplace.” It is only the limits of our human understanding of probability that makes coincidence seem more astonishing.


• Luck is a way of describing our interaction with random external events. Those who are religious or spiritual tend to experience more coincidences and perceive them differently. Similarly, self-referential people – i.e., those who tend to connect external events to themselves – also describe more coincidence experiences.


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