Planned Happenstance

Have you ever struggled for career choices? In general, the career center in Japan often tells us importance of setting a career goal. This means if we set our short term goal and long term goal, we can reach our destination easily.

Unfortunately, I have a negative image about setting a goal because of uncertainty in these days. This means our career plans are destroyed by unplanned events easily.

To be honest, I grew up surrounded by unpredictable world. When I was in Junior high school, I was really shocked by 9.11. Furthermore, one of the leading companies in the United States, Lehman Brothers went into bankruptcy due to the financial crisis when I entered University. As one misfortune followed another, massive Haiti and Chilean earthquake took place in 2010. This means not only us but also economists cannot predict our future because we are in a unpredictable world.

If we set a goal, it is hard for us to reach it because logical approach can be used only in logical world. Furthermore, it really difficult for us to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity flexibly if we have a clear career plan.

Are there any alternative career approaches?

In the last workshop I attended, I can learn the unique theory: Planned Happenstance. This is based on the chaos theory and it means to transform unplanned events into opportunities for learning.

Under the Planned Happenstance Theory, we do not have to have perfect career plan; however, this is definitely not about sitting in your bedroom and waiting for the right thing ti show up. The point is expecting the unexpected events and prepared for chance opportunities, such as unexpected phone calls, chance encounters, impromptu conversations and new experience.