Contempt Prior to Investigation: How Setting Aside Preconception Leads to Serendipity

August 22, 2012 in It is what it is - opinion column, Other Than That - news, business & other nonsense | Comments (0)

 

Funny.

I wrote this headline right after completing a trip to Vegas that would turn out changing my life.

It would appear, however, the inertia that has plagued my blog writing over the years took over and while my life went through a tectonic shift – something recorded in microblog tidbits on Twitter, Facebook and in more depth within the total privacy of handwritten journals, that I neglected to set finger to keyboard and record this monumental change.

So as I logged in today to think about adding a fresh post, it occurred to me that before truly moving forward, first it might be best to clean up some of the missing pieces.

In May 2012, Tony Hsieh invited me to come to Vegas. On August 1, 2012, I rolled into town for what was supposed to be a 10-day exploration of the Downtown Project sprinkled liberally with some meetings, a presentation to entrepreneurs and a whole lot of serendipity.

Serendipity. This word would not only saturate the rest of the trip but would come to have a far greater meaning for me.

Taken at its dictionary definition the word means “An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.”

You see, when we plan our lives (which we all do) and try to circumvent all those pesky accidents (which we want to avoid) we avoid the very basis of serendipity – that magical moment when you discover something truly remarkable … by accident.

Taking this trip into the desert was mostly, I thought, an escape. It turned out in a strange way to be a homecoming …

 
 

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