Konubinix' opinionated web of thoughts

Guided Serendipity

Fleeting

In Système 1 / Système 2, Daniel Kahneman talks about the availability heuristic, saying that once you have something in mind, related things are easier to perceive.

gtd advises to acknowledge and review your goals so that you can be wired up to perceive the stimuli all around you that allow you to move toward your goal.

That information is all around you, all the time. But if you’re not wired up to perceive it with a focus that opens you to it, you’ll think it doesn’t exist.

— https://gettingthingsdone.com/2017/12/big-secret-goal-setting/

It is supposed that a region in our brain, called the reticular system, is responsible to react to stimuli, once properly activated. It is supposed that this is how a parent can wake up at the sound of his kid at night.

I tend to believe that our perception of the outside world is indeed very related to the state of mind we are into and our near past experiences. For that reason, I strongly believe in the idea of bootstrapping our brain so that it can react more easily to stimuli that fit our higher horizons of focus. I tend to call that guided serendipity.

Also, the habit of saying yes to new stuffs is another way to increase the likelihood of serendipitous outcomes.

Yet, I must be aware that it is not because something well happened that it was a good idea to use serendipity (idée ne se valide pas rétrospectivement).

Notes linking here