Please recognize that serendipity can impact the development and implementation of plans. Serendipity is a natural ability to gain knowledge and make useful discoveries from accidental events and occurences. Some equate it with intuition, others focus on awareness and pattern recognition. Pronounced "sehr-uhn-DIP-uh-tee", this tip may seem foreign to systematic planning, but it is not. Rather serendipity is the fortuitous result of planning and of being prepared. Serendipity is a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise".

The word serendipity has its roots in "The Three Princes of Serendip", a Persian story about three princes who had the knack of discovering things quite by chance. The word was first used by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann in 1754.

This tip is closely linked to the tip exploit favorable circumstances and the tip exploit the "fog of war".

"War is the province of chance. In no other sphere of human activity must such a margin be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance and deranges the course of events." - Karl von Clausewitz

"The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself." - General Douglas MacArthur

According to scientist Louis Pasteur, "Chance favors the prepared mind."

from http://www.simonsingh.net/What_is_Serendipity.html
http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2195
http://www.military-quotes.com/