Philosophy

Serendipitist

Do things always seem to work out for you?

Our internal narratives and external experiences make the cultural consequences of serendipity hard to refute. Serendipity may be pseudoscientific, but it makes sense that things we dedicate our focus and attention to, naturally attracts more of the same.

This mental model can be established in many ways. For me, the appetite for welcoming serendipitous collisions has been brewed from the eternal optimism that an entrepreneurial lifestyle constructs. No matter the source, I believe many of us are, or have the potential to be serendipitists.

Serendipitists seek adventures that invite, sometimes even require different layers of serendipity. The extend at which you control what you’re able to control (a dichotomy within stoicism), while also letting the winds of happenstance guide you through a sense of abundance, determines how often/deeply we experience this charming phenomenon.

Extra Shot
What’s normal for a spider, is chaos for the fly.

In the moment, not everything will work out. This is why serendipitists are often confused with just being lucky. Serendipity and luck both require preparation, openness, and opportunity. The difference between serendipity and luck, is perseverance. Over time, serendipitists share similar energies within their practice.

Serendipitists say “yes” more often.
Serendipitists consistently show up.
Serendipitists assume positive intent.
Serendipitists seek to understand.
Serendipitists are empathetic.
Serendipitists are generous.
Serendipitists stay curious.
Serendipitists fuel positive change.
Serendipitists play long-term games.
Serendipitists have fun and die empty.

As we experience serendipity, celebrate it. Recognize the random awesomeness that comes from the positivity you squeeze into the universe. Continue connecting dots, appreciate how things come together, and keep making a ruckus to feel it even more.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Airport Foot Massage

Scripted ice breakers are usually lame, but a fun one invites participants to share something that others may not know about them. There are many ways to approach such a prompt, but a response I once threw in the mix was my unassuming indulgence in foot massages at airports.

After traveling, there’s something bougie about having your tired feet rubbed while endless strangers pass by. Along with mental relation in a very public environment, tightness can be melted after a conference, team meetup, golfcation, or whenever you had fun on your feet.

Transitions came to mind when a recent airport masseuse was whisking my feet into mashed potatoes. A tension arrived as the artisan prepared to switch from one foot to the next. There was an undercurrent of disappointment in that one foot’s rub was coming to an end, yet this feeling disappeared when the next foot received its first touch of attention.

This tiny transition accentuates the kaleidoscopic variety of shifting twists we experience in endless ways. Unconscious, planned, and unplanned changes happen all around us, yet some transitions bring added avoirdupois or take more time than expected.

The route toward a smooth transition is different for every situation, but one tactic to help navigate any transition is to acknowledge the past, then use the present to concentrate energy toward what’s next.

This seems obvious, but our ego often tries to pull us back to what we may be leaving behind. For example, a sense of loss can be felt when leaving a team or as one steps out of an active leadership role. When something has become part of our identity, it’s no surprise that transition brings tension. Will you still be respected after you’re gone?

When leaders let others lead and depart with a sense of abundance, it takes time, but appreciation will last.

Brewed From Within
#52 📖 Leadership

By Ben McDougal, ago

Open to Next

Honest resolutions provide direction. Appreciating the past, setting goals, and planning for the future guides enthusiasm and sustained action. Along with measured milestones, dare to be different by staying open to things not in the plan. This fluidity helps us avoid the limiting effect of being too rigid.

Think about your last vacation. You locked in travel, accommodations, and an assortment of prepared activities. You basically scripted the adventure. If all goes to plan, you’ll enjoy the trip, but how often does everything go exactly to plan? Almost never, yet the unexpected detours often lead to the best memories.

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Higher the contrast, better the story.

There are times to be stringent, and discipline is useful, but embracing the plot twists of life ensures that perseverance doesn’t become misguided. This is ambitious when control is comforting, but let good habits provide the comfort, with openness to churn goals into surpassing accomplishments.

Brewed From Within
#90 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Die Empty

Graveyards are full of good intentions, untold ideas, disconnections, and missed opportunities.

As we celebrate year-end holidays and look to 2022, it’s easy to make audacious plans for what’s next, but perhaps it’s wise to pair big ideas with small actions?

This obviously means something different for everyone. For example, there are times in our lives when we seek to do so much more. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when cool ideas, good intentions, and even positive action doesn’t lead to the anticipated outcome. For those who face this mental mountain, first give yourself grace by remembering that we either succeed or learn. This will help you find closure with past failure(s). As you push through this self-limiting mindset, lean back into your community of fellow founders. It’s even harder to show up when you’re experiencing a dip, but movement activates motivation and leaning into the prosperity of others will percolate helpful conversations. Pair this curiosity with a pinch of vulnerability and you’ll be reminded how generosity builds trust and helps you solve new problems.

In contrast, there are other times when a profound sense of accomplishment leaves us wondering what more can be done? This would seemingly be a privileged state, but our sense of purpose can waver when goals have been met. This can cause even the most ambitious spirit to feel lazy. A sense of achievement dysmorphia can also set in, which downplays our accomplishments in an effort to create space for more. Perhaps one way to counter this type of mental moment is to pair celebration with relaxation, creativity, and humility. Rejuvenation often emerges from self-care rooted in gratitude. This form of vulnerability brings peace, which often provides clarity on prolific ways to make a deeper impact on familiar fronts, or energy to explore brand new ways to fuel positive change.

The nudge you need will be dynamic based on the complexity of your ever-shifting environment, but a willingness to persist allows us all to keep building.

Extra Shot
The YDNTB audiobook was just released and listeners love it! It is now available as a direct download (with bonus features) in this special Holiday Bundle. It can also be found on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon.

It’s impossible to measure the amount of time and effort it took to narrate, edit, and professionally publish this 5-hour audiobook (here’s how I did it), but that’s not what matters. What matters is that I have a remarkable relic to be proud of forever. Enjoy the show my friends!

Along with what you’re able to undertake, appreciate all that you cannot. When idea machines have an opportunity surplus, it’s easy to over commit. It’s much harder to stay cognizant of our personal bandwidth when our connected era is always introducing new ways to spend your time. These are crossroads where you’re invited to be honest about your own purpose, by allowing the superpowers of others to activate something you can/should not. As you share the love, deliver ideas, resources, connections, and opportunities without hidden agendas. You can’t take such things with you, so boldly give them away with a sense of abundance and find renewing joy in helping others bring more good things to life.

My hope is that after reading this year-end reflection, you observe the blunt title less around loneliness, and more as positive encouragement for doing all that we can with our precious time in this life.

A sustainable cadence leads to longevity, but a profound legacy awaits those who exhaust all their love, intelligence, connectivity, and energy to leave satisfied in the end.

By Ben McDougal, ago

13.8 Billion

The universe is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old. That’s enough time to ask a few cosmic questions…

  • What are educational paths to the space industry?
  • Can astronomy, cosmology, and religion co-exist?
  • Does digitized consciousness unlock time travel by leaving the limitations of a human body behind?
  • How long would it take to arrive at the closest black hole? Who’s going in first?
  • How will robotics, AI, quantum computing, and material science accelerate space exploration?
  • It seems impossible that extraterrestrial life does not exist. When we learn that aliens are real, how should first contact be carried out?
  • If life on Earth has endured less than 25% of the time our universe has existed, how many distant civilizations may have come and gone?
  • Is it not foolish to mindlessly feed on energy that uses finite resources? When might we run out?
  • How does our planet’s spatial position and cosmic direction change inside an infinite universe that is expanding at an ever-increasing rate?
  • Visiting, even colonizing Mars feels like an important interplanetary exercise, but could other planets be a place to store all the things we don’t want on Earth? Even better, how about asteroids we load up and send off into the dark matter?
  • Can subatomic nanotechnologies alter the input of an energy source to transform the output?
  • How will ownership be handled in space?
  • Does seeing deeper fuel urgency?

                        These are bizarre prompts, and cosmic conversations can quickly become theoretical. To find answers in the unknown, our imagination, scientific exploration, and continual learning are essential as we keep tackling the questions of our universe and the unsolved problems in astronomy and astrophysics.

                        Cosmic questions put life into perspective and make our existence feel fragile. Arguing becomes a lost cause when collaboration is vital for our species to survive.

                        Brewed From Within
                        #108 📖 Life & Happiness

                        By Ben McDougal, ago