The Surface Area of Thoughts

The Surface Area of Serendipity

I heard an idea on the MFM podcast a couple of week ago called the surface area of serendipity. It’s not clear who coined this phrase or came up with the theory, but I heard it from Shaan and Sam so for the time being I will credit them. If you haven’t heard of the idea, the basic concept is, while luck may be out of your control, you can increase the probability of “luck” occurring in your favor. If you put all of your energy into something you are passionate about, and you go out of your way to try and meet interesting people in that space, you can significantly increase your chance of luck. That is the basic concept, and it is not a new idea. However, I have a slightly different spin on it.

I don’t believe in using the phrase “luck” so liberally. I used to not believe in luck as a whole, and while I hate the phrase, I think luck is important in life. But, those who get “lucky” put themselves into that scenario to get lucky. On the most extreme case, winning the lottery, comes down to a % chance. Somebody has to win, and you can influence your chances directly depending on how many tickets you buy, when you buy them, the #’s you pick, etc. So sure, math and chance plays a part but you chose to buy that ticket at that time or chose those specific numbers which means you had direct influence over the outcome.

In another direction, if somebody thinks they are an unlucky person, they will live life differently to somebody who thinks they are a lucky person. That idea will compound in their head and it will prevent them from doing something because they think the outcome will be unfavorable. Versus somebody who believes they are lucky, they are more likely to take risks, expecting the outcome to work out in their favor.

If you every watched Seinfeld, there is an episode where Jerry believes everything evens out for him, so anything that happens he brushes off and expects something to happen in the other direction to even things out. While this is an extreme case, you could argue a mindset like this puts himself in the position to have these “lucky” or “unlucky” events happen to him.

So, my takeaway from my surface area of “luck” is simple. I don’t believe in blind luck, I believe in increasing your chances of luck and having a positive mindset that good things will happen if you put yourself in the scenario for them to occur.

For Every Habit, Ask Yourself This Question

Sorry if every idea is sparked from the MFM podcast, but this one comes from the same place. The concept is simple, for every habit you have, you develop, you’ve become addicted to, or you want to start, ask yourself this simple question: Did it make me a better person?

Simple right? That’s the point. In my head, every habit you develop should be to make yourself a better person. The only stipulation is everybody’s idea of what makes them a good person is different. There are also two different kind of habits. There may be the habit of making your bed every morning or planning out your day, or for myself, going to a coffee shop and writing this post every Sunday. These are habits that will impact us in the long run, something simple that can compound over time. There are also habits that we develop without intent, thing like smoking, drinking, porn, tv, gambling or whatever else it may be. These are the most important ones where you have to ask yourself, has it made me a better person. Take drinking for example. This could be different for each person. Maybe somebody drinks every Friday night with friends, and increasing their happiness, social activity, and bonds is a good thing, ultimately making them a better person. But maybe somebody else has begun to drink alone every night after work. Not just 1 beer but multiple, for no reason, or they smoke just to get some sleep. I would argue this does not make somebody a better person, and is simply a habit just to be a habit.

So, when you catch yourself developing something you’ve done repeatedly, ask yourself the simple question and maybe that can help yourself separate the good habits from the bad.

Don’t do Something Just to Do It

My last idea is simple, short, and something I thought of while I was at work. I work at a startup where I have direct control over the product and direction of the company so maybe my idea is skewed, but I think it can be applied to every job and life in general.

My thought is that if you think something is wrong, inefficient, or should be done differently, just do it. By that I mean if you realize halfway through doing something the better way would be to do it another way, just stop halfway and consider redoing it before you do it all the wrong way. Because if you’re right, you’ll have to do it again anyways and that will just take more time. As well as this, if your boss tells you to do something and you believe they’re wrong or there is a better way, collect your thoughts and present your opinion as to why it may be wrong. This is something I have noticed only certain people do. And as a boss, I would imagine it is terribly invaluable to have an employee who just listens and does and has no opinion in how something should work. Even in a corporate role, if you’re told to do something by a manager that you know is wrong, present your case to them. But do so in a way that is collected because the most important thing is you have to back up your case. Even if you are wrong, if you have reasoning and can explain yourself and, most importantly, the why, then you’ve separated yourself from the followers and shown you’re more than just a workhorse.

That’s it. Nothing revolutionary but something, especially in finance, that I believe people forget and lose, tending to just follow the leader and that leader leads them into the ground.