Thought Shrapnel

I’ve talked many times about “increasing your serendipity surface” and you can hear me discussing the idea on this podcast episode from 2024. In this post, Aaron Francis breaks things down into ‘doing the work’, ‘hitting the publish button’, and ‘capturing the luck.’

It’s a useful post, although I don’t think Francis talks enough about the network/community aspect and being part of something bigger than yourself. It’s not all about the personal brand! That’s why I prefer the term ‘serendipity’ to luck ‘luck’ — for me, I’m more interested in the connections than the career advancement opportunities. Although they often go hand-in-hand.

No matter how hard you work, it still takes a little bit of luck for something to hit. That can be discouraging, since luck feels like a force outside our control. But the good news is that we can increase our chances of encountering good luck. That may sound like magic, but it’s not supernatural. The trick is to increase the number of opportunities we have for good fortune to find us. The simple act of publishing your work is one of the best ways to invite a little more luck into your life.

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How can we increase the odds of finding luck? By being a person who works in public. By doing work and being public about it, you build a reputation for yourself. You build a track record. You build a public body of work that speaks on your behalf better than any resume ever could.

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Sharing things you’re learning or making is not prideful. People are drawn to other people in motion. People want to follow along, people want to learn things, people want to be a part of your journey. It’s not bragging to say, “I’ve made a thing and I think it’s cool!” Bringing people along is a good thing for everyone. By publishing your work you’re helping people learn. You’re inspiring others to create.

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Publishing is a skill, it’s something you can learn. You’ll need to build your publishing skill just like you built every other skill you have.

Don’t be afraid to publish along the way. You don’t have to wait until you’re done to drop a perfect, finished artifact from the sky (in fact, you may use that as an excuse to never publish). People like stories, so use that to your benefit. Share the wins, the losses, and the thought processes. Bring us along! If you haven’t been in the habit of sharing your work, it’s going to feel weird when you start. That’s normal! Keep going, you get used to it.

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The formula may be simple, but I’ll admit it’s not always easy. It’s scary to put yourself out there. It’s hard to open yourself up to criticism. People online can be mean. But for every snarky comment, there are ten times as many people quietly following along and admiring not only your work, but your bravery to put it out publicly. And at some point, one of those people quietly following along will reach out with a life-changing opportunity and you’ll think, “Wow, that was lucky.”

Source: The ReadME Project

Image: CC BY-NC-ND Visual Thinkery