Uncovering the 3 Principles of fostering lucky Circumstances

Postcard 4th August ‘24: How I got to do Fieldwork in Svalbard

Last year, I went to do fieldwork in the Arctic.

Not on a research vessel. I went on a cruise vessel.

While you will probably enjoy some impressions from the actual fieldwork in upcoming postcards, I want to start with something else. The raw stuff behind being able to do what I dreamed of doing.

This week’s postcard pictures take us back to the beginning of June 2023 - with some impressions from my fieldwork in Svalbard. View towards Longyearbyen from the University Centre of Svalbard | View from a rubber boat towards the cruise expedition vessel at 80° North | Selfie from that rubber boat.

So, let’s take a closer look at “How I Got to Do the Fieldwork”, which introduces us to what I call the three principles of lucky circumstances:

1.) Being generous with actions

2.) Being courageously curious to follow nudges

3.) Surrender the need to control the pathways

How I got to do my fieldwork

Making my master’s project about shipping noise from cruise vessels in the Arctic was an idea that I had developed over more than a year’s timeframe.

However, finding a team of supervisors who would a) have the expertise and b) the capacity had proven to be a mission impossible within the quite niche area of marine acoustics. Combine a niche topic with a remote and exotic research area like the Arctic Ocean and add a touch of administrative requirements like time frame, no funding and fit-of-research topic from my university’s programme. You will find a nerve-wrecked and devastated November 2022 version of me. It was also the last month of my semester in Svalbard, and the dark season had swallowed any last sparkle of hope.

November 2022 - selfie from my student room in Longyearbyen during another power plant blackout - during polar night.

In the meantime, I even submitted a completely different topic that got rejected.

Back then, some fantastic people encouraged me to persist with my idea and reach out to some institutes and researchers for the last time. And so I did. In the worst case, I would stick to my idea and go with a purely theoretical thesis between the bookshelves of a library.

A further “sorry, no project for you” email included the recommendation to contact a researcher in Norway - who would become one of my supervisors. She and another researcher were part of a project for which my research idea would be a perfect fit.

We all could not believe this coincidence.

Getting fieldwork included was still a challenge, but at least my work would not be purely theoretical but would have an application within an actual research project. Still, the bioacoustics supervisor was keen on including a small study where I could collect my own data set.

No research expeditions matched my thesis timeframe, or no spots would be available anymore. These are usually planned for years in advance. Spots are limited and highly contested. In parallel, we contacted the expedition cruise operators since they are known to value collaborations with scientists. However, constraints like the timeframe to plan these spots in advance were a recurring theme.

But then, in the first part of 2023, we were offered that I would join Hurtigruten Expeditions in Svalbard during June 2023 to conduct my research. Not only joining one cruise, but two right after each other.

The 3 principles of lucky circumstances

Sounds like I have been super lucky, right?

Suppose you would consult with my inner state throughout most of the “manifestation” phase of this “luck”. In that case, you might find yourself in the darkness of polar night, the cold killed the batteries from your headlamp, and you have given up on going in any direction. You are just wondering if the polar bear will eat you before or after you become the homo sapiens version of a fish finger. You can even add a pinch of seriously unfavourable circumstances in my private life. And with a pinch, I mean breaking the saltshaker right above your dish.

The “just being super lucky” behind-the-scenes setting. AI image generated with ChatGPT DALL·E by me.

I don’t believe in “Some people are just lucky”.

This might upset some people who carry this sentence in their repertoire.

I am grateful for so many things in my life. But I don’t credit them to luck.

In an interview with Dr Andrew Huberman about the Growth Mindset, Dr David Yaeger stated:

"Under the right conditions with the right support, change is possible.”

The “right conditions” and “right support” do not occur by chance. They occur through repeated fostering of lucky circumstances.

So, let’s leave the darkness of the polar night and the lurking polar bear and look into what I call the three principles of casting our lucky circumstances.

1.) Be generous with actions

When we look into the things I did that led to the fieldwork opportunity, we might even go back to the first semester of my master’s degree. (We could argue that getting into the master’s programme and all related steps was a precursor, but you will get the example and how to expand it.)

During the last course of the first semester, we had a single session about the risks of shipping noise to the marine environment, which also discussed shipping in the Arctic. For reasons that relate more to Principle 2, I took action. I wrote a course paper on shipping noise in the Arctic. I not only delivered it, but I excelled at it. With any daily task of reading, linking, phrasing, and researching, I did for it.

Despite securing an internship for our third semester, this course paper led me to apply for exchange studies in Svalbard.

When I got into the exchange programme, I knew that none of my courses would relate to what made me apply in the first place. I went anyway. It was getting me closer to the geographical location I was interested in. So it was a strategic action, too. Once there, I learned that shipping noise or underwater acoustics was not part of any research at the University Centre in Svalbard. But I would talk about my interests whenever possible (selected opportunities, no annoying brut force strategy), which got some people pretty curious.

I gave two presentations about shipping noise and its potential impacts on marine mammals in the Arctic. One was for a student-led conference at the University Centre, and another was for guests during a day cruise with a tourist boat. I prepared both presentations meticulously, considering the content, visual graphics, and different audiences.

In the meantime, I would continue reading new scientific papers and blog posts on the topic. I would look up researchers and institutions and send emails requesting master's thesis project opportunities.

I engaged with fellow students, professors, guest scientists, and lecturers with whom I connected by what I would call mutual curiosity. Either by their interest in my topic and perspectives or my interest in their work, even if it did not directly relate to my dream research.

I want to show here that on a pure action-oriented level, I had been nurturing the backbone of what would lead to the fieldwork opportunity. It is also no coincidence that I got it with Hurtigruten Expeditions. Hurtigruten was also the vessel operator for which I gave the science presentation. One of our lecturers was someone in a leadership position at the company, and I had engaged with her about the other thesis idea (the one that got rejected). She was also connected to one of my supervisors. Further, the supervisor for the fieldwork had a long-standing contact with Hurtigruten, too.

Many actions were involved in the process. A lot of effort was made, coming from an intrinsic drive to do them—meaning there would be no direct external reward for doing them. That is part of the “generous” term in the principle. You just try to create as many lucky circumstances as you can. You do the actions with the best intentions despite not knowing if they will lead you anywhere.

And yes, some actions have led to “dead ends.” I would still argue that they helped me refine my other actions or ruled out some unlucky circumstances. Ultimately, they narrowed down the pathway and connected the dots. The majority of my actions fostered the lucky circumstances of doing the fieldwork I dreamed of doing.

2.) Being courageously curious to follow nudges

How do you know which actions to take? You must be courageous and a bit reckless to trust your gut and heart. Remember that principle 1 is about generous actions - you just put them out without being guaranteed a reward. Hence, what do you have to lose?

I talked about this course paper. We had done other course projects before, touching on many different topics during the first weeks and months. But nothing gave me a clue what my “niche” of interest would be—until this one lecture. It changed everything, and I would not be where I am today if I had not followed the curious nudge to learn more about shipping noise and shipping in the Arctic.

Remember this application for exchange studies? I was not keen on doing it. I had the internship organised already. Something inside me still said, “What do you have to lose?” Nothing. Hence, I went all in with applying for the northernmost region where I could study. I had nothing to lose. And I got in! I would not have if I had not followed this tiny voice saying that I could still try it.

With both of these examples, you see that I had nothing to lose. The “courageously” actually relates more to having the courage to listen to these brief moments of curiosity and follow them.

Derek Sivers coined the concept of:

If it is not a hell yes, then it is a no.

Once you have a clear strategy and work towards a certain goal for a dedicated time, this might be a possible approach to avoid distraction and overwhelm. Still, even there, I would say it can’t harm to courageously follow a curious nudge occasionally.

To foster lucky circumstances, you will have to throw this concept overboard. Sorry, Derek. It’s vital to say “yes” to some things even if you are not 100% sure. In most cases, you will not even be 5% sure why you would go after this particular thing!

Remember, you have to be generous with your actions. So, if there is the slightest glimmer and you have any means to pursue it, go.

Again, I am not referring to making any sudden life-altering decisions. Start with tiny actions. And do not get stuck in your head when trying to shape lucky circumstances. In hindsight, I notice that it probably does not serve you to ask, “Why does this make me curious for more?” or “Why is this little voice there right now?” or “Is it strong enough?”.

I can’t tell you how much time I spent pondering how much of a “sense” or “nudge” was due to pure curiosity and how much was sourced from some of our personal behavioural and thinking patterns. In most cases, it is a beautiful mix that partially entangles along the way—also by reaching some of the dead ends.

You will teach yourself along the way what it feels like to go for something that has lucky circumstance potential.

3.) Surrender the need to control the pathways

Principle 1 is rather pragmatic and action-oriented.

Principle 2 requires you to tune in with yourself.

Principle 3 is about letting go and the universal sense of trust.

Fostering lucky circumstances occurs in the riptides of uncertainty and “what the heck am I doing here?”. There will be dead ends and adversity. And you might not even know in which direction you are heading. Your dreams might seem “childish” or way out of reach.

Keep on holding these dreams. Come up with more dreams related to it. Think and feel them as often as you can. And then let them go. Time and again. Let go of trying to understand or figure out how and if you might achieve them.

I, too, find the concept of “letting go” still difficult to grasp. In one of the books below, I learned about the act of sending a wish out and trust. It reminded me of what I used to do as a little girl! I haven’t been raised in a religious or spiritual family. In my family, we still believe there is something more existential than we understand.

You might call it prayer. I call it surrendering what is beyond my control to a general force of the universe. It could be your version of spirituality, your version of God. Your understanding of the power of (beyond) thoughts and manifestation.

If that’s not your thing,

Suzanne Heyn

inspired me to include the idea of using an affirmation:

“I trust the future me will be able to figure it out.”

I followed the nudge to learn more. Over time, I read books like:

• The Universe Always has a plan: The 10 Golden Rules of Letting Go - by matt Kahn

• The Secret - by Rhonda Byrne

I started sending out my own little wishes to the universe before falling asleep. Looking back, I could not have identified the pathways unfolding during the past years. From what I send out from the trusted place of my pillow - leading me way more straight than I could have imagined towards the Arctic Ocean.

We try to control so many aspects of our lives, minds, bodies, and futures. We can work on fostering lucky circumstances, but we can’t demand to control their pathways. We need a little trust here to make true magic happen.

If at all, it is magic that we are working with as apprentices, but it is not luck.

The grab-bag for lucky circumstances

Fostering lucky circumstances. AI image generated with ChatGPT DALL·E by me.

Dreams can come true by fostering lucky circumstances.

1. Build the backbone of lucky circumstances by being generous in taking as many actions as possible.

2. Follow curious nudges with a brave heart. Don’t ask why, just go.

3. Finally, trust the universe (or future you) to figure out plot, timeline and sensemaking.

I also trust the universe to figure things out over a damn good coffee!

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Life (raft) Updates

Relocating the pack to DK

I sold a few more things. It’s kind of in weird limbo right now. The preparations and administrative things are mostly sorted out, but it is still too early to start the actual moving part.

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On my desk

Since I was still hoping to get into the PhD preparation course this week, my brain was reluctant to start anything. So, I researched the internet (YouTube, blogs) for some methods and tools—especially on organizing literature, taking literature, taking notes, and staying relatively sane (hahaha, good one)—during your PhD studies.

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On my ears, page or screen

I have started a bit of reading and research about traditional Chinese medicine and acupressure points and found this lovely YouTube channel:

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Things that made me smile, laugh, think, cry or curse this week

Smile & laugh

• Preparing some things for my first paid subscribers! It’s incredible to have a life raft support crew now; thanks so much, everyone.

Think

• The instructor of the first aid course I took on Monday explained that Germany ranks in the 2nd worst place across Europe when it comes to first aid responders acting in an emergency - leading to only 2% of people surviving a case requiring lifesaving measures without long-term damage, which comes down to 750 in 150.000 people per year.

  

  Picture from the 1st aid course.

Cry & curse

• Acupuncture this week was painful—seriously painful. But he hit some sweet spots, so I felt GREAT afterwards. I got my first iron infusion in parallel, so this would have probably a nightmare for anyone afraid of needles 🤣

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Up next

Unfortunately, I did not get into the PhD summer course in bioacoustics, which started yesterday. However, my two supervisors decided to take me along during the two days that they will teach (and which will actually be the most relevant for me). So, I am going on another mini-trip to Denmark from Tuesday to Friday. It is super exciting. I am also going to meet some of the other lab members.

Hug,