Serendipity and Luck

Serendipity is a happy accident. You might not come up with what you wanted to start off with, but you sure are happy you did; this is a feeling that Steve Jobs certainly had in his life. What was meant to be a computer hardware company, after Steve Jobs’ acquisition, Pixar ventured into the animated film industry and became the most successful film animation company. To experience serendipities, luck is a necessary factor, but it is formed by more important factors such as originality and perseverance; The connection between luck and serendipity always boggles my mind because of the ambiguity of luck; its definition is “a force that seems to operate for good”, but when does it operate and why it does so is still very mysterious. I do believe that “luck” is necessary to experience serendipity, but that it is developed through working hard and thinking innovatively.

Going back to the old saying, “Luck favors the Brave”, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and hence, your hard work will get “converted” into some luck that helps you get serendipities. I hope I didn’t lose you there, but that statement makes some sense because if you can’t earn luck, then would you be lucky to be lucky… to be lucky? Coming back to Steve, he definitely had “luck” considering the fact that he was alive in the era of computers which greatly accelerated his companies’ performance, (and I still stick to the fact that he earned this luck because he was one of the first into the microcomputer market which influenced the entire computer era till date), but his serendipities came through his innovative thinking, originality and perseverance; he was one of the first to chase after the "personal computer", and strived to bring about products that were never available to masses. Such qualities enabled Steve to be successful in his endeavors, even if through serendipity or "luck". May Steve Jobs rest in peace; I shall end with my favorite quote of his: “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”