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I have trouble believing that "allowing for serendipity" would actually bring satisfaction.  Schwartz writes this in the section in which he advises that we lower, if not eliminate, our expectations.  However, the mere mention of the possibility of serendipity puts the hope for something serendipitous to happen in my mind--which I would argue is an expectation.  I find that whenever I have any sort of expectation in a situation that is not fulfilled completely I am left feeling rather unfulfilled.  Fairly often I find myself reminding myself not to get my hopes up about something in case it doesn't happen, and I'm not too sure whether this is a good way to go through life.  I think that better advice would be to go into situations with an open mind.  I do not mean that we should never have any ideas of what we want--in fact I think that having goals is very important, but I think having reasonable goals that are malleable and that we are willing to adjust if necessary is more important.  Some of my best memories from times with my friends and family are days when we would get together for no particular reason and with no particular plans other than to enjoy each other's company.  We would let the day take us where it would, making decisions based on our moods at the time.  And, while I know this is maybe not an apt analogy when considering decisions of greater gravity, I think it is valuable in looking at how we should enter into decisions: with an overall goal that is not too specific and a willingness to be flexible in the way in which that goal is achieved.