Thread by @EmilybyNight

I've been doing a deep dive on how to increase "serendipity surface area" -- here's what I've got so far

I'm kind of having an existential crisis about what I want to do with my life rn. Quit my job of 7 years. Moved to a new city.

Sounds cute and exciting for a 20yo...but I'm a pretty seasoned professional. I've been in the exploit phase for so long exploring feels scary

But a friend told me that instead of thinking about reinventing myself, starting a whole new career, or falling prey to choice paralysis, I should just "increase my surface area of serendipity"

This basically means reorganize my life to invite more serendipitous opportunity

"The amount of serendipity that will occur in your life is directly proportional to the degree to which you do something you're passionate about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated."

Jason Roberts coined the term in the original post here: And Mental Model Practices has a good breakdown about it here: codusoperandi.com/posts/increasi…
mmpractices.com/mental_models/…

So instead of having to invent new ideas (I don't really know what's out there! how could I know?), I invite new opportunities to come to me - by placing myself in the right place/right time more often

this means
1) do stuff that you love + 2) talk about it with other people
When you're excited and engaged in the shit you love, it shows -- talking passionately about it with other ppl means they're excited to collaborate with you, hire you, recommend you to others

Can also be expressed as Excellence x Exposure. It's not enough to practice in isolation, you gotta be talking about your craft, putting yourself out there. A great convo linked here:

https://twitter.com/shakycomfort/status/1783280529376231671?t=3twJETTJqNyhmwusCFLKYg&s=19

As for me, here's how I'm working on doing stuff I love + talking about it more -> emilybynight.com