Speeding Through The Dip

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. That’s according to Wikipedia.

Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, speaks of continuing on through whatever happens until you can reach the shore of success. The problem is we don’t often know the distance of the dip. We just know we can turn back, drown or keep going. Success is only found if we keep going. Godin points out that many people quit too soon.

The Dip can represent any number of hurdles we must endure or overcome. It also represents the opportunity to succeed. There’s no getting from here to there unless we go through some sort of dip. Some dips are serendipitous.

One of the most famous stories of serendipity is the invention of 3M Post-It-Notes. The Idea Finder records a summary of that event.

Everyone knows what Post-it® notes are: They are those great little self-stick notepapers. Most people have Post-it® Notes. Most people use them. Most people love them. But Post-it® Notes were not a planned product.

No one got the idea and then stayed up nights to invent it. A man named Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research laboratories in 1970 trying to find a strong adhesive. Silver developed a new adhesive, but it was even weaker than what 3M already manufactured. It stuck to objects, but could easily be lifted off. It was super weak instead of super strong.

No one knew what to do with the stuff, but Silver didn’t discard it. Then one Sunday four years later, another 3M scientist named Arthur Fry was singing in the church’s choir. He used markers to keep his place in the hymnal, but they kept falling out of the book. Remembering Silver’s adhesive, Fry used some to coat his markers. Success! With the weak adhesive, the markers stayed in place, yet lifted off without damaging the pages.

3M began distributing Post-it ® Notes nationwide in 1980 — ten years after Silver developed the super weak adhesive. Today they are one of the most popular office products available.

Few of us experience that level of serendipity. Most of us likely experience it as we’re attempting to do something more mundane than invent a new super-strong glue.

I don’t care about politics. Sometimes I’m an interested observer, but that’s as far it goes. Barack Obama’s story – one I’m only slightly familiar with – isn’t so much a story of serendipity as it is opportunity. Given the opportunity to keynote the 2004 Democratic Convention – I’d like to hear how that selection was made by the Committee – Obama stood and delivered a compelling speech. That moment thrust him into the national spotlight. That opportunity was the moment of truth for him as a politician. It was serendipitous because he was stumping for Kerry/Edwards. But I suspect he knew the opportunity he was being given to propel himself forward as a leader of the Democratic party. I suspect the big wig Democratic party leaders knew it, too. No matter what brought it about, Obama had to take action and perform. So he did.

I recent radio interview with Jazzy Jeff of Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince fame revealed that he and Will Smith, as young guys, were talking, dreaming and planning where they’d be – eventually. For more than 25 years they’ve been good friends. Buddies. Will Smith wanted to act. Jazzy wanted to play and be involved in music. According to Jazzy, when they get together even now they talk about how they’re both doing the things they dreamed of when they were just teenagers. I’m sure there is some serendipity in there somewhere, but the fact is – like Obama, they did something. They performed.

The documentary of Tom Petty’s career, Runnin’ Down A Dream, has been discussed here and elsewhere. Like other stories of success, Tom Petty and his bandmates did something. They performed.

Serendipity is a wonderful thing if it happens to you. It breeds envy and jealousy if it doesn’t. The people full of envy and jealousy are guilty of doing nothing. Like many people who hate to see others achieve greatness, the envious and jealous cry the same lamentation, “Look at how lucky that guy is!” And they believe it.

Time and chance are part of life. The scriptures point that out.

Eccl. 9:11 “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

What are we doing with our time and our chances? That’s really the point. I watched last night as Barack Obama walked onto the stage of the Convention a very different man than the one who walked out 4 years ago. Different in the sense of importance. Different in the sense of being a marquee player in the party – if not the nation. Or the world. Maybe some time and chance did happen for him. But he knew what to do with it when it happened.

I often wonder what chances we miss only because of our inability to see them. And I know we all miss chances because we do nothing! Dreamers hope and wait. Performers dream, plan and act.

Serendipity only happens when there is action and movement. Spencer Silver and Arthur Fry were both doing something when the Post-It-Note was born. They weren’t just sitting a room staring out a window hoping success would bowl them over. They were working, searching and trying. In that working, searching and trying they found something that worked. It wasn’t what Silver was looking for, but it was exactly what Fry was looking for. Silver is brilliant only because Fry was remembering. Fry was remembering only because Silver had invented.

I suspect that if we want to increase our ability to experience serendipity – or more serendipity – then we should take more action. We should do more. We should engage more. We should try more things. We should work on our performances. There are various components to serendipity, but until we begin to take action I figure none of them matter much. So, first things first.

If you want to paint, then start painting. If you already paint, paint more often.

If you want to sing, then start singing. If you already sing, sing more often.

Great singers are discovered by others who see and watch them sing. We’re all judged successful (or not) based on what others see us do, not on what others suppose we can do. Bob Bowman is the swimming coach for Michael Phelps. He didn’t take one look at Michael and see a future record-setting Olympian. He watched him swim. He coached him and watched him respond to coaching. By the time he was 11 Bob Bowman had seen enough to know Phelps had potential. All because he had seen the kid swim, not because he sat by the side of pool looking like a swimmer.

I often envy the person who knew – or thought they did – at an early age what they wanted to do. Who they wanted to become. Most of us lumber through life with little clue. We stumble into careers and relationships. Some of us plan better than others. Some execute those plans more effectively. Others have no plan. Getting an early start is more critical in some areas – Phelps needed to start when he was very young. Had he started a few years later, it’s likely none of us would know his name. Early actions are often rewarded with favorable outcomes. If you want to be world-class, start when you’re very young. That speed will help give you the head start you need.

The window of greatest opportunity doesn’t stay open very long. Oddly enough, only the people who are so engaged in the pursuit of something see them. Those who sit idly by hoping, wishing and dreaming don’t often recognize great chances. You’d think they would, but it seems their focus blinds them to the possibilities. Maybe their lack of mobility and their stillness hinders their vision. While the person engaged and doing something is more aware of what’s happening and better able to see subtle shifts that may give them an opportunity.

You need fast and clear vision to jump on serendipity – or any chance. Our ability to see it and adjust our actions has to be faster than the opening. It’s a simple scientific truth. If you’re going to go through an open window, you must do it before that window closes. The speed of the closing window determines the speed you need to go through it before it closes.