Chasing for serendipity — a fresh graduate’s perspective

*a 6-month-old fresh graduate, to be exact

The first time I learnt of this word was when a classmate of mine hollered it at the top of his lungs after a long dreary conversation about our bleak future as soon-to-be fresh graduates (That was almost 2 years before graduation. Can you imagine our lack of faith in our career paths).

I always thought serendipity is not just a beautiful word, but also a beautiful concept. The idea of having good things happening organically or by chance. The idea that “this is FATED”. All those stories we hear about entrepreneurs with the right idea, at the right place, at the right time. One moment Netflix was struggling with sky-high customer acquisition cost and then comes Covid (which isn’t a great thing by the way, but just, y’know, great for Netflix and many other media entertainment companies).

Hearing all these stories, it feels like luck and timing plays such a critical role in our lives that, we should think less, plan less, and see how things go along. If something good happens, good for us! If it doesn’t, don’t worry about it and just keep moving. We just keep hustling, and something, something will come our way. When stress comes into play, throw in some self-love and all will be well. We wait, for serendipity. But is that how it works?

I wish I had done things even more differently back when I was a student

I remember during university, one question always comes up for every single class, seminar, conference:

“Is the class / event / seminar useful?… No? Thank God I didn’t go for it.”

I used to be a huge perpetrator of this on both ends. Not turning up for events, turning up and feeling extremely disappointed, friends questioning why I still turn up for events when it sounds useless. These comments and questions made me very sceptical of events, and I decided not to attend a lot of them because of the preemption that it is not going to bring me any value. At the same time, I also used to talk and gossip about amazing people who are the same age or younger than me. I “oohed” and “aahed” over their wondrous deeds, telling myself it is nature rather than nurture and they were born to leave a legacy.

I do believe I have lived a relatively different life as compared to my peers. I did not simply bury my nose in books and become a “closet mugger”. Instead, I have lived a very fulfilling school life socially, academically and professionally. I was the president of a club, pioneered a brand new project, and even attempted my resale fashion start-up. I learnt to love networking and met many people who became critical to my growth as a person. However, I still wish I was more present.

You don't wait for serendipity, you create an opportunity for it to find you.

Looking back, I did not seize every opportunity available and comforted myself with the idea of serendipity. Sure luck plays a role in life, but we have to take control over our life narrative and create an opening for luck to slide in our DMS. It is easy to console ourselves and say that we were just put in the wrong environment with the wrong exposure, but it is up to us to open more doors for ourselves.

That random LinkedIn request for a coffee chat? Take it up.

That super boring class where you didn’t know anyone so that makes it worse? Go for the physical class and make a friend.

That networking event that is “useless” because they only sent a bunch of interns and junior HR members down? Go there and build genuine connections. You never know when something may blossom. You create your own path.

Showing up and being present is only the first step to a serendipitous future.