Daily Inspiration: "Elevate your enthusiasm!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Futurist Jim Carroll is running a series that began November 27, 2023, and will end on January 1, 2024 - '24 Strategies for 2024.' Rather than running a trend series for the upcoming year as he has previously, this series will examine a number of his personal beliefs on how to best align yourself with the future. There will be a post each weekday, excluding weekends and holidays, until the series runs its course. You will find it on his blog at https://blog.jimcarroll.com, or on the website https://2024.jimcarroll.com
For all the whining and complaining of those around you, it's a great time to be alive!
Focus on that.
It's strategy #5 on my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
Think about where we find ourselves in the world today - we are seeing massive advancements and progress with medicine and healthcare, business models and strategic thinking, technological progress and new inventions, sociological and cultural conditions, and more.
Here's a list of 101 reasons why it is a great time to be alive 'today,' compared to previous years, decades, and centuries - the basis for why you should 'elevate your enthusiasm!'
Accelerate your enthusiasm for this fact every moment that you can!
Let us all cheer for the time when Walmart set up the Hub in the mid 2000s as an attempt to build a place as cool as MySpace.
We might laugh, but this is what innovation is all about.
Trying new ideas. Some work, some don't, but you keep pushing forward. They new something was going on with kids and this new social media 'thing,' and they were trying to figure it out.
I'm 64 years old, and my wife just yelled at me for having the music too loud with the base pumped to max, and I'm listening to rave music by Scooter that has an awesome beat track.
Daily Inspiration: "Develop MANY superpowers!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
You shouldn't excel at one thing - you should be marginally capable of many things!
At least that's my thinking, and it's strategy #6 on my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
Where am I going with this strategy? Let's start with this observation - if you spend any time on LinkedIn, you'll have noticed that it has become tremendously busy as of late, a consequence of the meltdown of another once-popular social media platform. It's also kind of a weird place, as people tend to use it to share their key ideas for success and the future or to boast about their success. Spend too much time there and you can easily deflate your ego, thinking that you are not accomplishing as much as other people!
This is particularly true if you follow motivational speakers, leadership experts, or ... trends forecasters. If you are like me, you will have noticed an increasing tendency in which many of these people are suggesting that you should focus on 'finding your superpower,' the idea seems to be that if you can just double down your efforts at mastering just one thing, you will have found a secret path to success.
I'm not a big fan of this type of thinking. Here's why:
Daily Inspiration: "Recommit to your ethics!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
With AI, we are on the edge of an era of mass misinformation at scale. Will you do the right thing?
I'm presuming that you've already got a firm ethical grounding in place, so that's not a question. But given what's coming, our ability to skirt the lines of ethical behavior might be challenged like never before. The world we are going into with AI is going to be wild.
Look, we all know that we can already generate images that bear no resemblance to reality - you've seen me doing this with the various face-swap images I've been posting of myself in various settings. I'm doing this mostly for fun, and simply to point out that we are witnessing fascinating technological advancements at a furious speed.
And yet it's also pretty obvious that we are only moments away from being able to do the same type of thing with full-motion video and audio - we're headed to a world in which anyone will have the capability to, generate completely realistic clips of anyone saying anything in their voice. Have you seen the video of Leonardo DiCaprio addressing the UN in multiple different voices, all AI-generated?
This clip is already 9 months old, which is a lifetime in AI years It's already actually kind of trivial to do this type of thing - but what is coming at us is the ability to generate completely fake images and video that purport to show anything. The 2024 election in the US? It's going to be wild. Did I mention that already?
Through all this, will you commit to always doing the right ethical thing - in essence, recommitting to the ethical grounding that has guided you so far? That's strategy #7 in my 24 Strategies for 2024, and it's an important one.
Daily Inspiration: "Basically, be boring" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Sometimes, you need to be boring.
That time is right now. Boring is often better - you know, boring stuff like real business strategy.
Are you getting caught up in the hype, or the reality? Our world today is full of grandiose statements. "If your company doesn't have an AI strategy, it won't exist in 5 years." "If you don't adapt to AI at this very moment in time, your career will be at risk." "Millions of jobs are going to disappear in the next year because of AI."
This is all a bit of hogwash, and those of us who have been here before know better. We went through the early days of the Web, the arrival of the dot.com opportunities, the emergence of social media, and countless other trends. Every time, the hype machine geared up, people and companies were told that if they did not fully immerse themself in the trend right away, they were doomed.
Right.
We were boring because we told the truth - the future takes hard work. So sorry, but let me be boring by going back to that boring thing - business strategy.
My operative phase with any new technology has long been that 'we tend to overestimate the rate of change on a two-year basis, and underestimate the rate of change on a ten-year basis.' That's what's happening right now with AI - something profound is happening, and yet, it is very early days - and if we don't stick to the strategy, it's pretty likely we'll go off the rails.
With that in mind, let me walk you through a series of slides I used in the latter part of my keynote yesterday for the East Penn Manufacturing Company.
@Ulrich_the_Elder@mastodon.social This is a key point. If she effectively mobilizes her platform, she can have a huge and swaying vote on what comes next.
Daily Inspiration: "Study more science" - Futurist Jim Carroll
If science is going to define much of your tomorrow, wouldn't it make sense to know more about it?
By the time you read this post, I will be on my way to undergo what is known as a Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) surgery on my right at the world-renowned Herzig Eye Institute in downtown Toronto. It's a relatively minor procedure for a small eyesight correction; it's an update to the original vision improvement that I saw from a Refractive Lens Exchange surgery back in 2013. That permitted me to finally abandon contact lenses after 34 years of use. Along the way, there have been a couple of Lasik touchups to that procedure, plus another small procedure to deal with a bit of Posterior Capsule Opacification!
That's a lot of vision correction procedures, but Herzig stands behind their lifetime guarantee of quality vision.
Yes, for some people it can take a lot to trust the science of this type of surgical eye care - I know MANY people who have been very nervous about LASIK or other procedures, and who later confess to me that they should never have waited so long. Yet in my case, I have complete trust in Sheldon Herzig, the surgeon who will undertake the procedure tomorrow. That's because I live a life in which I trust science, and I try to immerse myself in science as much as I can.
I was thinking about all this in the context of my day job - I study tomorrow and interpret that for other people. And so for me, science isn't just something that involves a matter of trust - I also know that science defines the future of just about everything. With that in mind, I spend a lot of time studying a LOT of science for the many keynotes I undertake. Science helps me to interpret the trends of our fast-moving world. That matters.
Maybe you should also consider studying more science to better deal with your fast-moving world, both personally and professionally.
Daily Inspiration: "Become known for what really matters!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Your reputation matters. Your personal brand counts. How others perceive you determines so much of what will drive your success going forward. You will define your tomorrow not only through the hard work you put toward your success but how you do the right thing for others.
All of these reasons and more are why 'becoming known for what matters' is strategy #10 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
With that in mind, why not spend a good part of the next year - and beyond - on turning things around and upside down, so that you become known as the person who does the right thing, rather than just someone who does something?
Since I seem to like lists of '101 Things,' here's my list of 101 things you might try to achieve the goal of becoming known for what matters.
1. Make sure other people don't see you as a barrier to tomorrow - they should see you as a gateway.
2. Don't be the person who never has ideas - accelerate your imagination instead.
3. Instead of saying it can't be done, be the one to suggest how it can be done.
4. Rather than being frustrated at a team that can't come together, try to be the individual who helps them to find a common cause.
5. Instead of complaining to someone, try to find the thing that can lead you to a compliment.
6. Don't let the anger inside you get out - take a deep breath and find your better self.
7. Be someone who provides others hope, not doubt.
Keep reading - there are 94 more!
If you can do only a few of these things in 2024, you are going to have a fantastic year!
(In 1977, The Book of Lists was released and became an overnight phenomenon, becoming a massive bestseller. That's exactly what it was - a book of lists about many different things. Jim Carroll devoured the book at the time and all the follow-up editions. It should be pretty obvious that he likes lists.)
Daily Inspiration: "Reinforce a realistic reputation" - Futurist Jim Carroll
People see through hype. No one likes a blowhard. Reputations that don't deliver always end up crashing and burning.
And ultimately, deceit fails.
2023 saw the bizarre situation of the ultimate defeat of the strange case of George Santos, an entirely fictional and embellished persona if there ever was one.! What was fascinating to many was not just the length of time in which he got away with it, but the ability of an entire group of people who seemed to be willing to either forgive him for his sins or let him get away with it. Think about how far we have come in our culture of normalizing deceit and fraud!
With this story dominating a lot of news throughout the year, it seems a good time to remind ourselves to double down on grounding ourselves when it comes to success. While the situation of the embellishment of personal background has always been true, the emergence of social media and our strange world of politics has made the situation of embellishment far worse - 2023 has made that clear. And after all, as you know, this is not just the 'Santosization' of deceit; in the last few years, there has been an ever-increasing number of news stories where someone has been caught padding, enhancing, or outright lying about their resume and background.
Indeed, social media, celebrity, influencer culture, and our world of bizarre politics seem to have made the situation worse.
We live in the era of the viral success story, and everyone wants to achieve this goal. And yet invariably, if you go too, the inevitable crash and burn takes place.
There is nothing new here - except the fact that this embellishment and deceit culture seemed to come to a head in 2023. That's why strategy #11 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 is to always reinforce a realistic reputation.
@JenWojcik@Teri_Kanefield My reading isn't that's strange, once you read up on what it is and the fact that the process is used on occasion. I'm more interested in her analysis of where it might go.
- what sort of timeline do they have to take this up within? - can they ignore it and say 'the process needs to play out' - if they do that, does that stretch out the timeline? - when does this term end such that they could just say 'we can't do it right now' - do all Justices weigh in, or just the corrupt ones? (-; - is this totally binding everywhere else one way or the other? - could it just go to Alito and he rules against Justice and that way, the US is f&&&&&&
I shared the stage with the fellow twice. He had a great story, a commanding stage presence, and deep respect. We shared agents.
Then he went off the deep end of madness. (And the agent dropped him)
As he undergoes trial today for basically destroying two lives and so much more, it's a fascinating - and sad - study of what happens when a mind falls out of touch with reality.
Visit my "Bad Things" page and read point #2. This is what I am referring to. I am convinced that years from now, scientists will look back and will have diagnosed a new form of social media-driven mental illness.
That is if there are still scientists in a functional democracy who support the study of science (read point #1)
@fringe One thing I can't figure out is at what point companies will realize that the volatility that would come with it would be bad for their bottom line. Many support R's because they were the 'business party.' As it becomes no longer that, their support will decline and they'll finally grow a spine. One would hope. But most of that type of conjecture is out of my wheelhouse.
Daily Inspiration: "Don't forget the obvious" - Futurist Jim Carroll
I've long noticed that many people like to chase the hot trends. In doing so, they forget all about the obvious ones, with the result that they miss out on so many opportunities. Busy chasing the shiny new toy, they fail to find the joy in the old, well-used toy that is right next to them.
When I began my speaking career, most of my events were in my home country of Canada. I often shared the agenda and the stage with a University of Toronto demography professor by the name of David Foot. The book he co-authored, Boom, Bust and Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift, was at the time a national bestseller (as was one of mine!). The book took a look at understanding the past and forecasting the future through the lens of demographics.
The boom? Baby boomers. The bust? Gen-X. And the echo? Today's 35-and-under generation is the technology-weaned, social media-driven generation. The numbers for this demographic breakdown are staggering - 78, 46, and 76 million strong.
So much of what David predicted in his book and on the stage turned out to be correct - because it was so blindingly obvious. I often had the chance to listen to his words of wisdom while waiting offstage for my follow-up keynote on the impact of the Internet, connectivity, and accelerating technology. To me, so much of what I was sharing at the time was blindingly obvious - big things will happen when we plug together everyone around the world.
People often forget about the obvious stuff - and shouldn't - because that is so often the crucible of much opportunity.
That's why this is strategy #12 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
Doing some scene setup in my crazy green screen room in my basement for my little 'show' tomorrow. I'll talk about the 10 AI tools I actually made a part of my workflow through the year. It should be fun!
Daily Inspiration: "Be prepared to launch" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Too many great ideas fail to launch. There are lots of bold new initiatives that are never implemented. Many organizations identify wonderful new strategic opportunities but never pursue them. People develop fascinating new skills and capabilities but never get to the step of actually using them. There are many leadership commitments to a new future that fail to go forward. Concepts that fail to gain traction, and initiatives that fail to initiate.
Our world is one of failed initiatives.
If you do anything in 2024, try to avoid letting that happen to you - make sure that any idea is followed up with actual initiative and action. That's strategy #13 in my 24 Strategies for 2024 series. Innovation!
One of the slides that worked its way into the closing moments of my talk this year suggested that organizations should 'Build an innovation runway.'
It carried the subtitle 'Don't let old people kill new opportunities.'
Sad, but true - and t it's based on a recent real story I witness all too often.
The interesting thing about watching a slow and deliberate justice system is realizing that you are watching a slow and deliberate justice system in its final stages of being slow and deliberate before it goes away forever because it is just slow and deliberate.
My bet is there are ZERO trials before the election. America sure as heck has to figure out if it wants to be that shining light on the hill anymore. Odds are it won't.
Here in Canada, we're going to have to figure out what it means when our southern neighbors go full-on dictatorship. Should be weird.
@mjf_pro I'm in. But you probably want to move to Canada anyway, so not a fair bet. (-;
Also, regarding cynicism, you should see my mood when it comes to the GFS, NAO, El Nno patterns and such. The guy at WeatherMadness threw in the towel today in his long-range, admitting he just doesn't understand what all the models are saying anymore. We ski north of here, and so weather cynicism is at an all-time high.
Looking at Pivotal Weather long-range forecast maps, and then reading weather people, you really do realize the weather people really have no idea what's going on anymore and are basically just making shit up.
Daily Inspiration: "Keep an eye on the edges" - Futurist Jim Carroll
(Note: I know Mastodon/Federation is heavily tech-oriented, so nothing new for you here. This series hits many other audiences....)
Increasingly, the future is created out in the crowd, out on the edges, and it's in your interest to watch the crowd and live at the edge. No doubt you are aware of the open source movement - the collective initiative responsible for Linux, the dominant computer operating system in the world. Developed in the open through close collaboration and cooperative goals and ideas, the system is the foundation of much of our technology-based world of today.
If you want to understand the future, you need to understand both the history and future of ideas and concepts like this. That's why should keep your eye on what's happening with concepts such as open science, open data, open innovation, open collaboration, and of course, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. While the popular belief is that many new products, ideas, solutions, and concepts are developed by corporations in sophisticated research labs, equally more occurs in global collaborative communities that share common goals, beliefs, values - passion, and purpose. Those initiatives then actually become the foundation for what much eventually transpires in those research labs!
The whole idea is that 'open' development will help to eliminate errors, improve quality, remove hidden agendas, demolish the idea of 'control' of platforms and technologies, and much more. As many will like to point out - the future is open. Or at least, it should be open. - and should happen within global, collaborative communities that have nothing to hide. Keeping an eye on - and even participating - in these collaborative communities and open initiatives will help you to understand so much more about how the future will evolve, and that's why this is strategy #14 in my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
Daily Inspiration: "Shatter some norms" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Let's talk about Taylor Swift, and what you can learn from her stunning success as you go forward into 2024.
Being named Time's Person of the Year was just the fitting conclusion to a stunning year of success, well earned over an era of far more than a decade of performing, innovating, and disrupting.
As someone who speaks about innovating and disrupting, I admit that this year, I came close to being a 'Swiftie,' as her fans are known, fascinated by her ability to shatter some norms. I first watched her Netflix documentary when it came out a few years ago, and came away fascinated by her business acumen. This year, watching the story unfold, I realized that not only is she a stunning performer at the peak of her career, but she is also one of the most brilliant business executives of our time. Her ability to completely shake things up in terms of how things should be done offers striking lessons in how to succeed on your terms. Like many, I watched the twists and turns of her Eras tour throughout the year; you can't be on social media and NOT encounter posts from Swifties. I was fascinated by how suddenly, the NFL belonged to her; and was equally stunned by the speed with which she demolished established entertainment business models by bringing her concert tour to the theater and then almost instantly to streaming services.
Check Amazon Prime today - it's there. I will probably watch it in the next few days.
But first, a story! You'll want to have a good laugh! Read on!
24 Strategies for 2024 - **#15** - "Shatter some norms"
It's Taylor Swift's world, and we are all just living in it. But the reality is, there is tremendous disruptive, transformative leadership insight to learn from her career.
I abandoned my series of Smart Life/Tuya switches for the Kasa/TPLink switches for my #homeassistant setup, and wow, what a world of difference. Easy to set up within HA ; no idiocy of having to visit an IOT API platform to register, or to run some code in Linux to find local device names and such. Tuya is crap.
@dwf They are all quite accessible outside of the app, so this must be an older issue that was resolved. Ya, I guess with any hardware we run the risk of them suddenly nuking them. Garage door openers.....
Pretty clear that most #wx#weather forecasters are backing off the much publicized El Nino as it becomes an El NoNo.
Winter is pretty much over in Eastern North America too.
It's actually kind of funny watching all the long range forecasters, as they keep pounding the drum that 'the cold is coming' but keep pushing it back. One today went into February.
@Teri_Kanefield Total agreement - yet I keep going to the point that has been made that Trump supporters *can't* psychologically admit they've done the wrong thing, because that would call into question their entire existence. That flies in the face of courage.
@Teri_Kanefield Thanks for writing this. Excellent, as always. Don't ever let our frustration and impatience with process distract you from your process!
@chockenberry I swear that this is due to the new Apple Department of Breaking Things That Were Once Perfectly Fine. They also screwed up the beep-the-iPhone feature on the Apple Watch that was once found by scrolling down and instead moving it to the side click. Imagine spending your life working at Apple making decisions that screw things up. And don't get me going on the new FaceTime gesture feature in Sonoma that happens to mess up anyone using OBS, Ecamm, Vmix, Streamyard, etc. That's from the other Apple group, the Department of Bumbling Incompetence.
And there is absolutely no one at Apple who listens to this stuff.
Daily Inspiration: "Fail at fewer first impression failures" - Futurist Jim Carroll
The people you meet are often not who you think - we all suffer from stereotypes, bias, and quick judgment.
In doing so, we often miss out on the opportunity to meet some truly remarkable people, discover fascinating trends, or get in touch with new opportunities for innovative thinking. That's why I will often spend time striking up conversations with people working away in the world around me - an agronomist working at a golf course, by which I can learn more about agricultural science; a 'liftie' at the ski resort, where I can discover someone who is doing advanced graphics design work in the summer season; or a young lady doing advanced AI research with her Master's degree while working part-time with the AV crew that manages one of my events.
Through this process, I've discovered much of what drives the world around us.
People never are who you think they are, and over the years, I've managed to use this type of thinking to learn more about the world around me.
With that in mind, here's a wonderful story. During the year, I had the chance to meet one Lawi Sultan Njeremani, a groundskeeper working at my home golf club Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Remember that phrase "You never get a second chance to make a first impression" - meeting Lawi reminded me of the corollary to this phrase: "We always have a second chance to fix a failed first impression!"
Read the story - it's pretty remarkable! He's an author, and I helped him get his books into print.
It's pretty much a given that 2024 is going to be the year of the Fediverse, #activitypub, Mastodon and more.
One year ago, I decided I was going to host my own little single-user Mastodon instance in order to control my future here. It's looking more and more like the right decision.
It's a little thing over on Vultr, running Ubuntu. Literally minimal maintenance. Never really any downtime. I follow about 1000 people and about 2000 follow me and no strain.
I spend about $12 a month on it. Minimal investment for a massive return.
@lori Have never had any issues here. Like, for real. I just go in and vaccum logs once in a while - I should cron it - and have a purge/cleanup script. Most of my media goes off to S3, so maybe that is what gives me stabilty.
@ivory Considering that you had your world ripped out from underneath you due to the capricious decisions of a madman but that you plowed through it, you deserve all the praise that you can get.
I'm hopeful that 2024 is looking better for you than 2023!
@gtbarry There's actually a big industry in India to train in the language, because it is a support hub...
I just spent time with a manufacturing company that is built on top of COBOL, to talk about the potential role of AI in manufacturing. Our world is odd.
Daily Inspiration: "Invest in kindness" - Futurist Jim Carroll
If you follow me, you might get a sense that I tend to have a rather compassionate soul.
After all, last year, my 23 Trends for 2023 series identified the trend wherein people were 'doubling down on dignity.' I try, as much as I can, to live a life that is rooted in kindness towards others.
In that post, shared my despair with our current reality:
"Sometimes it does seem like the world has gone mad – extremely divisive politics, a rise in hate crimes, absolute emotional terrorism on social networks, attacks on public institutions, and increasing violence. Everyone has a feeling that things are getting out of hand. That’s why trend #12 on my “23 Trends for 2023” is the issue of “Doubling Down on Dignity.”
And yet, within the despair, I always seem to find an opportunity for hope:
"I believe in 2023, both people and organizations will find they are spending more time doing so – focusing more on lifting people up rather than tearing them down.
This year, I found my opportunities for hope by watching individuals who were doing good in the world. Despite all the madness, rage, and hate, I did manage to find the decency and humanity within some people. In particular, I want to tell you the story of someone I never met and who do not personally know, but who I drew much strength and inspiration through the year. Meet Cheri Garcia, ex-meth addict and alcoholic, someone who now gives ex-convicts second chances and a new life through her Dallas-based company, Cornbread Hustle.
Her story is the basis for strategy #17 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series. Invest in kindness.
Daily inspiration: "Be bold in your thinking, and daring in your actions" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Do you want to spend 2024 doing marginal things, or do you want to change your life?
"Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?" said Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, to John Sculley, then an executive at Pepsi; Jobs was offering him the job. It's one of the most famous - and apt - comments made in the history of business, as Apple went on to change the world (although much of it didn't happen under Sculley's watch, later upon Jobs's return to the organization.)
So what's your plan for 2024?
Soda pop? Or the future?
People who talk about the future are often full of big and bold statements. Things like: "We are going to see more change in the next ten years than we have seen in the last 100." "People tend to overestimate the rate of change on a two-year basis but underestimate the rate of change over ten years." We stand on the brink of a time that will forever change how we live, learn, work, and play.” "If you are feeling overwhelmed today, just wait a moment until tomorrow." "There is so much change happening that in just ten years, you will barely recognize the world you will live in."
Much of it is true - it's just a matter of getting the timing right.
If that is the case, what's your plan? That's why this idea of being bold in your thinking and daring in your actions, is strategy #18 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
Ask yourself - soda pop, or tomorrow?
The time to confront the question is now - not later.
Daily Inspiration: "Be less 'artificial' with your intelligence" - Futurist Jim Carroll
AI is exciting.
And right now, when it's being used, it's also often pretty obvious.
That's why, as we step further into the age of artificial intelligence, it's crucial to remember the irreplaceable value of human creativity. While AI offers efficiency and analytical precision, it often falls short of capturing the nuanced warmth and emotional depth inherent in human expression. A paragraph penned by AI might tick all the technical boxes, but it lacks the spontaneous sparks of inspiration, the personal touch of lived experiences, and the subtle, yet profound, understanding of human emotions that come naturally to a human writer. This gap reminds us to embrace our unique human abilities – to think, feel, and create in ways that machines cannot replicate. In a world increasingly intertwined with AI, let's not overlook the beauty and power of our creative minds, ensuring that the essence of artistry and emotional depth remains a distinctly human endeavor.
Written by me, or an AI? ChatGPT.
When you read it, it seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? To my mind, it does.
I think we need to ask ourselves - are they helping us with our all-important soft skills, or are they a hindrance?
Daily Inspiration: "Honor every learning curve" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Everyone is different - respect that fact, and the rest follows.
That's one of the most important things that I have come to learn over the years within my job.
Think about it - the diversity of the ability of people to adapt to tomorrow is massive - and if you can't respect and acknowledge that, your effort to take people there will sputter and fail. The level of knowledge that people might have concerning any particular topic will be vast; their ability to comprehend what it means will vary widely; and their actual ability to learn about and understand the nature of the topic or trend at hand will span the spectrum.
That's why, every time I go on stage in front of an audience with any type of topic, I know I've got a vast range of expertise, knowledge, understanding, and experience with the topic in the room. I try to acknowledge that fact upfront.
In effect, I always try to respect the diversity of knowledge within the room (as well as diversity in general.) I know that everyone solves problems in different ways and at a different pace, each having their own learning style., For many, it can be a fast process to move from novice to expert; for others, excruciatingly long. Some people set out to deliberately master tomorrow, today - for others, their process is slow but steady. In addition, I know that the setting matters - some organizations create a culture and environment that encourages learning, adaptation, and change; others feature a leadership style of culture that will stifle any attempt to move away from the current day.
What I've come to learn to do, in over 30 years of shaping and changing the attitude of people toward tomorrow and the trends that will take them there, is to try to honor the many different trains of thought and levels of expertise in the room. That's why this is strategy #20 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.
"because (1) the matter was of national importance and (2) the matter needed to be decided quickly"
it would seem they have decided that a) it's not of importance or b) that no speed is necessary. I understand it now goes to the Appeals court Jan 9, and so delay, delay, delay.
It keeps going to my point that the slow and deliberate nature of the court system is going to lead to the elimination of the slow and deliberate court system once the nation has ceased to be nation of laws Jan 25, 2025.
@Teri_Kanefield I know. In any event, sadly, I guess you will be on the receiving end of a lot of the angst and anger from those who follow you. We don't mean it. Consider it a measure of the respect we have for the depth of your insight and your ability to patiently explain to us.
In my mind, as soon as I saw the headline, I thought to myself, "I wonder what Teri is going to say."
'Twas two nights before Christmas, in the cloud's virtual space, Where an admin sat focused, with a bright, determined face. In a world of data centers, far from physical sight, They managed servers on Vultr, upgrading through the night.
Ubuntu's latest version, ready on their screen, Awaiting Mastodon 4.2.3, sleek and pristine. Remote connections humming, like distant, whispered lore, As they prepared for an update, like many times before.
Their fingers danced on keyboards, with precision and grace, Commands entered swiftly, in this high-tech chase. "sudo apt update," they began with a nod, Embarking on the journey, with a slight, knowing prod.
The digital world was quiet, save for the clicking of keys, As they orchestrated updates with unparalleled ease. The server spun up instances, in the cloud's vast expanse, A symphony of technology, in this intricate dance.
But then, oh so suddenly, there came a brief alert, A hiccup in the process, but nothing to subvert. With skills honed and sharpened, like a well-crafted blade, They addressed the minor issue, not a moment delayed.
In the glow of the monitors, with their soft, steady light, The admin watched closely, through the quiet night. The logs scrolled by swiftly, a testament to their might, Ensuring Mastodon's upgrade would be perfectly right.
And as the final reboot commenced, with a soft, gentle whirl, They leaned back in their chair, letting satisfaction unfurl. Mastodon 4.2.3, now running so sleek, A perfect Christmas gift, for a technological geek
So here's to the admins, in their cloud-based towers, Who upgrade our systems in the quiet, late hours. With a final sip of coffee, and a contented sigh, They closed their laptop, under the night sky.
For in the world of servers, where they play their part, It's not just code and cables, but also an art. And this Christmas in the cloud, with all things set right, Happy upgrades to all, and to all a good night!
Daily Inspiration: `"Take responsibility" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Stop making excuses - start manufacturing solutions!
I've been emphasizing for years that 'the future belongs to those who are fast' - in fact, it's the title of one of my books. And yet many people fail to gain enough escape velocity to get beyond the challenges of today into the opportunities of tomorrow; they become stuck in a trap of their own making. Why does this happen? Because they spend more time making up excuses for their inaction and not enough initiative for their actions.
They never take responsibility for the fact that they are the only ones who can accomplish the 'moving' part of 'moving forward.'
What happens when we fail to take responsibility? We tend to blame everyone but ourselves for our inaction and lack of initiative - because it's the easy way out! When we do that, we fail to do what we need to do to move forward. That reality does not serve us well into the next year. 2024 will be full of both massive new opportunities and the potential for small wins - new skills to learn, challenges to pursue, technologies to explore, applications to be implemented, ideas to be chased and innovation concepts to be explored.
As I always say, it's what you do with this fact that matters!
How do you do this?
First and foremost - acknowledge the problem.
Second, acknowledge these moments as a failure
Third, commit to a plan of corrective action . Fourth, commmit to undertaking a regular inventory of where you might be slipping into old bad habits.
@johnefrancis The kids are bombing down this main run - wet, good snow - with high speed runs and big smiles. Fun to see, actually. I'm too old for that crap.
Daily Inspiration: `“Stay focused on the ’BIG’ future” - Futurist Jim Carroll
Are you thinking about the trends that matter? Consider this statement: "When it comes to the future, it’s always important to think about a trend from a long-term perspective while acknowledging the short-term issues that occur along the way.
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But as the future comes at us with greater speed and intensity, it could be that we lose sight of the long-term view of where the future is taking us as short-term issues come to dominate the discussion. With that in mind, it’s a good time to think about The BIG Future."
That's how I open my page about what I call the BIG Future - which you can find, of course, over at https://bigfuture.jimcarroll.com.
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It's a page that I started pulling together last year when AI was becoming all the rage; my thought process was that while there was something significant happening with accelerating AI technologies, we might see everyone forget about all the other 'stuff.' I believed (and rightly so) that many people would commit the fundamental mistake of focusing mostly on the 'hot' trends (i.e. AI), and ignoring other trends that were equally, if not more, significant.
So far, I've covered such issues as vertical farming, the acceleration of brain science, regenerative medicine, "connected" energy, materials science, the longevity divide, and more.
In addition to that, I've sprinkled throughout the page a variety of images that summarize the major, long-term transformative trends that are redefining entire industries, including healthcare, insurance, agriculture, retail, manufacturing, and others. Each of these bears a mention - and is all a part of what I do within my stage work when I am doing a deep dive into a particular industry.
My overall goal? People should think BIG about the BIG transformations occurring within entire industries.
@PhilipArtelt That would be based on specific research turned up in some science or reports; all my files are home, but that will have come from some peer-reviewed paper on longevity or major publication. Not at home so I don't have access to the files.
One of the more interesting trends as we go into the climate crisis is that modern meteorology as we know it is coming to an end.
What's become evident with this winter is that they are all relying on a vast array of sophisticated weather models, but those weather models are really showing no accuracy anymore, particularly in the long-term. So any suggestions as to long-term weather trends are pretty inaccurate. this has pretty big implications going forward
@KrajciTom Nope. Just watching many forecasters online over the years, relying on various models, and watching the increasing velocity with which they back off of those models as the models go back on what they previously forecast. Over on the bird site - which I still use to track weather - it's actually kind of funny as you watch dozens of meterologists continually backtracking on previous predictions as the models don't match up to what they were previously suggesting.
Certainly nothing what it was like 10-15 years ago.
My neighbor buddy is up for an Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series and I am just so excited for him. This will be his 2nd if he wins.
@failedLyndonLaRouchite Faster computers / more power can also mean faster error / less reliability at speed.
But your point is taken and certainly, something I'll keep my eyes open.
All I know is that several of the professional forecasters I have followed for years now seem extremely frustrated with their inability to interpret what is going on. One fellow just can't figure out why the Southern Oscillation signal he has followed and reliably used for long term forecasting is now bouncing around like a yo-yo.
@failedLyndonLaRouchite CFS, 1 day apart. I know the CFS is generally unreliable past 10 days, particularly for 2m temp, but this is a pretty significant forecast change for the same date just 24 hours apart in a model run.
My daughter-in-law and I will watch the Taylor Swift's Eras movie tour tomorrow evening. I'm not sure my sons (28 and 30) and others here at the chalet will participate.
Daily Inspiration: "Cast a more skeptical eye towards many trends, forecasts and predictions” - Futurist Jim Carroll
You need to be a little more skeptical of predictions about tomorrow.
Trust me, as a futurist who makes his living advising people of my predictions for tomorrow, it pains me to write that sentence - but I've been thinking about this strategy for quite some time.
Much of this mindset has come from the rather dismal record of forecasting by economists and financial pundits in the last few years; after all, it was just over 14 months ago that Bloomberg predicted - with 100% certainty -- that we would see a recession in 2023.
It never happened, of course.
The darned global economy kept chugging along, with month after month and quarter after quarter of continuous growth. Yet at the same time, global economic forecasters and financial pundits kept peddling their forecasts of doom and gloom, almost seeming to will for it to happen - and then seemed apoplectic and angry when it never transpired!
Failed predictions and missed forecasts? I got to thinking about the issue of failed forecasting in the last few days, as I have watched global meteorologists try to make sense of the current weather conditions in North America and increasingly, it seems, fail to do so.
That’s why this is Strategy #23 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series. Cast a bit more of a jaded eye on the words of wisdom of tomorrow from those you follow!
Including, perhaps, me! Or, maybe not. I'm not sure - I can't predict what might happen!
279 posts. 1,500 pages. Far more than 10,000 words.... thousands of images.
Thank you to everyone who read and followed my Daily Inspiration posts throughout 2023!
This year, each workday morning between 5 AM and 7 AM, I wrote my post, sharing it with hundreds of thousands of people on my blog as well as 15 different social networks and online publishing platforms. The posts relate to what's on my mind in terms of motivation, innovation, disruption and transformation.
I started doing this daily post in August 2016, and have not missed one single working day since that time.
