It was about this time of year in 2013 that I was hiking on a dust track towards the Griffith Helicopter pad that overlooks downtown LA.
We were doing a recce for a scene with Mo Farah and a group of runners for a Nike ad. We wanted a spectacular backdrop of the city.
The director, Vincent Laforet, snapped away at potential stretches of the road we could use.
A young couple passed us. The man peeled away from his girlfriend and whispered to us that he was about to propose to her on the helipad, and would we mind taking a photo when he dropped onto one knee to do the deed. He then ran and caught up with his girlfriend.
As we approached the helipad, the young guy dropped to his knee and proceeded to propose. Fortunately, his girlfriend said yes. Vincent snapped away on his very expensive camera. He promised to email the photos to the guy we returned to our hotel.
What the young man didn't realise is that Vincent is a Pulitzer winning photographer. When we told him that his proposal had been captured by one of the world's leading photographers he broke down.
What were the chances of that?
I remember this story so vividly as it's such a perfect example of serendipity, the thing I've really been lacking this past 2 years.
In what was great timing, I left my corporate career and set up my coaching business just before the pandemic hit.
It was a perfect storm. Leaving behind a lifetime of working with colleagues to work on my own. Swapping a busy office for a room in my house in a small village. The lockdown. Time structured around zoom calls.
Though I love my new career, what I really miss are those chance encounters, the new memories and ideas that are created when I least expect them.
So serendipity is going to be my word for 2022.
I'll stop planning every hour of my day. I'll step away from my screen, books, home office. I'll get out and just be around people.
Who knows what I may encounter when I least expect it?
#coaching #serendipity #workingfromhome
