Daily Inspiration: "The best decisions you will ever make are the ones that give you some of the best moments of your life!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
34 years ago today, I began a new career, working at home, leaving the corporate world to pursue my passions and interests! I've never looked back - and in fact, have been blessed to experience such absolute joy in the home office every morning. My wife quit her job in the corporate sector some 3 years later and has been with me in the home office since then.
I'm sharing a post I wrote about this some years back since it puts into perspective both my realism and the decision process that led me here.
Today's inspiration? The point should be obvious - since it shares a photo of a typical moment in the home office when my sons would visit me throughout the day! Among the best decisions I have ever made is deciding to build my own business, work from home, and experience the absolute joy of having my sons and wife around me through the entirety of my work day!
It's a crazy story.
That's why I find all the gnashing of teeth about the future of the workplace so interesting. Quite clearly, with COVID-19, much of the workforce has discovered the joy and beauty of what can come with a home office environment. Yes, many people do miss the interaction with their business counterparts.
But let's face facts - I dare say many of them won't want to go back to an office workspace any time soon. They've discovered the magic that has been a part of my life for the last 30 years.
With that in mind, it is clear that there is a seismic workplace attitude shift underway, and we will do our best to understand it!
A good read from @pluralistic.net on why Mastodon is the place to be. A really good read on why my decision to host my own Mastodon instance is even smarter.
"But here's the thing: all those other platforms, the ones where I unwisely allowed myself to get locked in, where today I find myself trapped by the professional, personal and political costs of leaving them, they were *all* started by people who swore they'd never sell out. I *know* those people, the old blogger mafia who started the CMSes, social media services, and publishing platforms where I find myself trapped. I considered them friends (I still consider most of them friends), and I knew them well enough to believe that they really cared about their users.
They *did* care about their users. They just cared about other stuff, too, and, when push came to shove, they chose the worsening of their services as the lesser of two evils."
@michael Carefully checked that out with the docs before I started. Also made a snapshot backup before. And have a full server backup always available. Have had lots of booms before.
I am always in awe that my speaking career has me sometimes booked by the same folks who book these two.
I would be thrilled to share an event with Barack.
But to share an event with Michelle would actually blow my mind. She is simply a motivational superstar. I mean, he's OK, but she's at a whole different level.
It would be the ultimate pinch-me moment in a 33 year speaking career.
Daily Inspiration: "The speed of your decision-making should match the pace of the trends" - Futurist Jim Carroll
People and organizations are far too slow.
They defer decisions until it's too late.
Is that you?
For a long time, I've seen too many clients and those trying to book me suffering from what I call 'aggressive indecision' - an organizational culture in which people simply can't take a step forward into tomorrow through the simple act of deciding what to do. The funny thing is, I first defined this problem way back in 2003l. Since then, even though the world has sped up, aggressive indecision has settled into far too many organizations, slowing them down.
This leads to an acceleration disconnect.
That's why more organizations- at least the ones that recognize they have a decision-making problem, are moving towards the side of 'corporate agility' - recognizing that decision-making is a key competency. Who would have thought?
I would have thought. I've been talking about the issue of indecision for years on stage - and organizations that manage to decide to bring me in, are usually those who ask me to talk about it! I suspect the others know that they are riddled with organizational sclerosis that comes with a slow structure, and so they settle into the warm-blanket excuse of deciding to do nothing. (Is that an actual decision?)
What should you do?
Be relentless on speed! Some time ago, in one of these posts, I suggested organizations should create a position called the "Chief Momentum Officer" to help them keep up with the pace of change. Organizations today need rapid, well-informed decision-making - because adapting to the trends of today that define tomorrow means that tomorrow is going to be here sooner than you think!
Be proactive, make quick decisions, and adjust as you go, rather than waiting and risking being left behind.
After all - the future just doesn't belong to those who are fast.
"Fat Joe: I got to explain to you...I am a sucker for a good laugh. I'm the guy they throw out the movie theater because the movie's too funny and I'm making too much noise. I'm the guy that you can roast me in the comedy club and I will laugh with you all the way out. The other day in Madison Square Garden, that was no joke, ladies and gentlemen. That was no joke. And it was filled with so much hate. Hatred of Jewish people. Hatred of Black people. Carving watermelons. Calling Puerto Rico an 'island of garbage.' My Latinos, where is your pride? I don't know why, but if I'm speaking to some undecided Puerto Ricans, especially in Pennsylvania, what more they gotta do to show you who they are. I'm telling you. And the thing about Fat Joe, if you don't know him—he's authentic. He will not sell his soul for nobody in the world. If I tell you Kamala Harris is with us, she's with us."
Daily Inspiration: "Somehow, one way or the other, you will need to be ready to move on from this day!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Hey, is there anything going on anywhere today?
Obsessed with the news? Hitting the refresh button? Reading polls?
Remember how I said that uncertainty and volatility cause many people to defer the making of decisions? It turns out I'm not the only one.
Yesterday, an article from Korn Ferry crossed my desk and got right into the specifics of what I keep talking about.
The headline?
The Leadership Election ‘Excuse’ - US election uncertainty has been the reason many leaders have punted on big decisions. What happens after this week’s voting?
Look, one way or the other, there will be some certainty at some moment in time in the days to come with this uncertainty. You and I might be happy, or we might be crushed. I might be happy and you might be crushed. Or you might be happy and I might be desolate.
We don't know where we're going to be.
But somehow, some way, in some fashion, we'll have to pick up our pieces and move on.
Somehow, we'll get beyond today and tomorrow in due course.
Whatever happens, we need to move beyond this day.
In my case, regardless of what happens, I'll be moving myself forward, not back.
Someone asked me for some context on my post this morning, which essentially consisted of a big black box devoid of words.
Essentially, I have no words.
Like hundreds of millions of people worldwide, I am trying to process things.
I was prepared with a quote today that read “Optimism must always be reinforced against the tyranny of pessimism” — but to me, that just rings hollow.
So much of what I know has changed.
In that context, I know I just need some personal, quiet time, with my family, to process all of this.
And while doing so, I think I need to step back for a time from my Daily Inspiration. I use it to share thoughts on the future – and when so much of the future has been thrown into a massive zone of uncertainty, I need some time to figure things out.
Daily Inspiration: "Hope: It’s that we must cling to in those moments when we feel like we are drowning in despair!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Emotional rollercoasters are the rides that we are sometimes forced to go on even though we dread the moment. Millions of people found themselves in that circumstance yesterday; millions of others found themselves on a different type of emotional roller coaster.
I certainly found myself on one for some time yesterday - and still do.
But the fact is, with the encouragement of my wife, I moved through The Seven Stages of Election Grief pretty quickly, working hard to get to the 'Acceptance & Hope' stage pretty quickly. More on that below. There should be no doubt if you follow me as to my political leanings. I try not to let it make its way into my work. The foundation of these leanings is that we must have compassion in our souls; that there are no easy solutions, only hard work; and that it takes a significant investment to get to tomorrow.
Bottom line? I have long believed that the reality of reality in the face of unrealistic expectations will always have its way with those who think that a magic button exists that will whisk them into a better tomorrow.
What me back yesterday? First and foremost, the stern words of my wife, someone who knows how to talk down from an emotional cliff. What also brought me back to continue my Daily Inspiration was this note from a fellow on one of my social network feeds - I had announced that I was pausing my Daily Inspiration for an indefinite time because I believed my words rang hollow.
...seriously, we need uplift more, not less today. Your friends and loved ones and distant readers need you more today, not less. So let your words ring hollow, or tinny, or forced. If you can only whistle in the dark, whistle loud.
There were more, and in the context of all of them, I realized I had a role to play. And in the context of that, here's an image I kept returning to over and over as I accelerated my way through the stages of grief. "I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, In am changing the things I cannot accept!"
Daily Inspiration: "The euphoria of winning is often soon offset by the reality of achieving!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Do you remember that phrase, "underpromise and overdeliver." It's a useful mindset for achieving goals!
But what happens if you "overpromise and underdeliver" - does that work?
Nope.
Lots of folks are soon to find that out.
Remember the Fyre Festival? Awesome times! The reality? It was so underdelivered that it became the subject of not one, but two full-length documentaries - including one called "Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened."
Massive promises never delivered. Oops. The founder went to jail. So - to that point - a lot of people now expect things to suddenly get massively better in the next little while because, well, all the problems will be fixed.
Here's the thing - it's going to be tough to improve on an economy that is already firing on all cylinders. It's going to be difficult to bring back entire industries - think about the automotive sector - that have not already made the investments that are necessary to get to the future. It's going to be difficult to provide jobs that require newly emerging skills if you haven't done the retraining necessary with people to fill those jobs. It's not going to be easy to have a successful economy that is massively reliant on migrant labor if you are going to try to terrorize those people. It's going to be tough to take away healthcare and old age security from folks when the very people who voted for come to realize that you were talking about taking away their healthcare and old age security! It's going to be difficult to fire millions of federal workers when people suddenly come to realize how those workers make things function.
Oops. Fun times ahead.
Here's the thing about overpromising - as soon as it becomes apparent that all you can do is underdeliver, mindsets move.
Daily Inspiration: "Try and be your better self" - Futurist Jim Carroll
As they say, Monday's are for motivation.
For many, these are not easy days. It's OK not to be ok.
How do you handle a world of massive change, volatility and disappointment?
it takes work, effort, self-reflection, and working through a process. Through the weekend, I put together a little Website with my thoughts - it's at https://coping.jimcarroll.com
You might want to visit the site to explore a voyage of how to cope - or read below.
#1 Try and be your better self. At the end of the day, you want to look at yourself in the mirror with pride as to how you've handled yourself.
#2 Set your expectations. Drastic change with unrealistic promises is a long-term voyage. All of this is going to take some time to unfold. Buckle in and buckle upset, and accept the fate of time.
#3 Ride your roller coaster. Your emotions are going to be all over the map. Come to expect that - and don't fight it. You've got to go through grief, anger, bewilderment, confusion, and more. Accept it as a part of the journey you did not want.
#4 Don’t give in to negativity. It will get worse before it gets better. That's reality. But work really hard to not let that change who you are, what you believe, and what you will do.
...alll the way up to....
#25 Believe in tomorrow. Some folks have a saying that gets them through their day today - "Tomorrow, the sun will rise in splendour." As tough as today might be, always believe there can be a better tomorrow.
---- For a brief moment last week, Futurist Jim Carroll decided to put his Daily Inspiration series on pause. Lots of people advised him not to do that, telling him that the posts work for them. With that, he’s doubling down on his optimism in the face of long odds with an era of massive, unpredictable volatility.
@jockr I was here for that, at my son's on Rickson. Wild. I slept through last night's though LOL!
Nice to meet! By the way, this guy is out in my backdoor most nights (Preservation Park). Since it's rutting season, I need to be careful with my early morning walks!
What really sucks is when you didn't like the reality show the first time around, and you have to watch the 2nd season, and you know it is going to be way worse, and you have to watch the fucking thing anyways.
Daily Inspiration: "Fear is a liar. Choose courage instead." - Futurist Jim Carroll
Today I want to write about resilience - why it's important, and why chasing resilience instead of giving in to fear is too important.
To do that, though, I need to tell you how I got to today's quote. I quite like it!
I've been spending quite a bit of time using Google Notebook LLM - it's become apparent to me that it's one of the best tools to use to go through vast volumes of information and synthesize useful results. One thing I've been doing is to use it to query and structure insight from the over 3,000 Daily Inspiration posts I've written since 2016.
The tool is providing me with all kinds of useful data and insight into my very own insight. For example, I asked it what I had to say about the topic of resilience, which I think is a very important attribute in the very complex days ahead. The answer seemed reasonably intelligent.
---
Carroll believes people should never let a setback set them back and focus on moving forward. He stresses the importance of using the words that define the attitude needed to go in the right direction, such as:
Perseverance
Determination
Fortitude
Persistence
Resolve
----
I couldn't have said it better myself! (-;
Going further, I then asked myself to generate 10 inspirational posts from my material. The response I got was somewhat magical:
---
Here are 10 resilience quotes, inspired by Jim Carroll's perspective, using 10 words or less.
Guard your optimism, battle negativity. Broken today, stronger tomorrow. Keep going. Embrace change, find your faster self. Resilience: Courage to bounce back, always. Turn setbacks into fuel for the future. Don't just recover, reinvent and rise. Persistence: The art of never giving up. Find strength in what you have, not losses. Embrace uncertainty, it breeds opportunity. Fear is a liar. Choose courage instead.
---- That's pretty good! I could have used any one of these, but I really liked the last one.
I'm quite looking forward to my keynote on Thursday!
I'll be speaking to the senior leadership of the Canadian RCMP - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - about the impact of AI - both from a crime and public safety perspective, as well as the new and fast-emerging risk issues that come with it.
It's always important to balance a serious message with a little bit of levity, and so in the section on the acceleration of deep-fake technology and the disappearance of reality, I had MidJourney create a little image of me when I was out working the beat.
This event comes on the heels of dozens of highly customized, deep-dive looks into the impact of AI on specific industries and professions.
@ai6yr I don't think you need to rush these decisions. I think there is a bit of time to decompress, recharge, and rebuild at a personal level. So many have invested so much emotional capital in this current time, and it's massively difficult to suddenly manage the complexities. My feeling is the big seismic trends are now unfolding, and we don't yet know how things will unfold (though we all have an idea). It will take *years* for all of this to unfold. So what we do at this specific minute, day or week doesn't much matter - what does matter is screwing our heads back on right. FWIW.
@tiamat271 @ai6yr@ai6yr.org Completely. I'm also in Canada, so I'm only indirectly impacted. So my approach certainly comes from my current reality. I do understand that millions are directly, adversely and quickly impacted.
I did put this together yesterday with my thoughts. Even those would be of marginal use at best for those who are already feeling the impact, and for whom reality will quickly become worse. I don't think I'm equipped to speak to that with solutions. I'm lost.
@tiamat271 this is actually all helpful. My daughter in law is a therapist doing a lot of counselling and so I am open to advice. I suspect I will turn this into a post in the not too distant future.
P.s. I run my own mastodon server so i have it set for 2,500 characters. (-‘
Daily Inspiration: "Opinions are like stomach gas. Sometimes you need to keep it to yourself!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Way back in January 2022, as some series of ongoing madness unfolded around the pandemic, I wrote my "Social Media Serenity Prayer" - "Grant me the maturity to understand the things I should not post, the insight to share the things I should, and the wisdom to quickly know the difference!"
A lot is going on in the world right now, and this might be a good time to once again share this wise counsel. After all, what's the upside in rushing into things, at least in the short term? Volatility will rage for some time, uncertainty will rule, and megaphones will blare.
That's why I wrote this at the time:
"I try to work hard to keep my opinions to myself. As a futurist, I'm on the side of facts, in a world in which for many people, facts don't matter - agendas do."
Borrowing from what I said then, and given what I do (I have a social media presence - Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram) I share insights on trends, innovation, creativity, and things that capture my mind. But at every moment that I consume media, I often feel obliged to post to it. I also know that it's not a good idea to do that if you find yourself bubbling with rage, consumed with incredulity, or struggling with disbelief at what you see. Like many, I often want to lash out, respond, and try to set things straight.
And often, to my credit, I don't.
I've come to the point that I am still learning not to engage, debate, negotiate, or get into a squabble with many of the views that now permeate our online world.
It's a challenging world. Sometimes, we should keep our opinions to ourselves.
**Mexico Displaces China as Top Market for U.S. Food and Ag Exports**
U.S. food and ag exports to Mexico rose by 7% in 2024, making it the top market. Mexico and Canada together accounted for one-third of U.S. exports, with China in third place.
**URL:** agriculture.com **Exports to Mexico:** $30 billion **Exports to Canada:** $29 billion **Exports to China:** $25.7 billion **Total U.S. Exports:** $173 billion **Leading Exports:** Corn, soybeans, dairy, pork **Fiscal Year:** 2024 **Corn Exports to Mexico:** 24.5 million metric tons
Daily Inspiration: "It's the types of crime that we can't yet imagine that we should be worried about!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Later today, I'll be doing a talk for the senior leadership team of the RCMP - that's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - on the future impact of AI. I'll have a few hundred police and civilian officials in the room and will take a pretty broad but intense look into the future. I'll be covering both the opportunity for the use of AI for crimefighting and public safety responsibilities, but will also take a look at the fact that the acceleration of AI leads to an accelerated risk of unknown crimes yet to be committed based on technologies that don’t yet exist!
Another way to put a spin on this? It’s the risk of unknown crimes yet to be committed based on technologies that don’t yet exist! That’s the future of policing!
(And yes, I've had a little fun with AI in this post. Look carefully, and that's me in uniform!)
The story of AI in policing is a complex one, involving many new opportunities and new skills to battle comprehensive new criminal risks - and one that is wrapped up in a lot of controversy when it comes to privacy and constitutional rights. And there is no doubt that these issues are going to become even more complex as things speed up.
Daily Inspiration: "Shift faster!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
One thing is for sure at this moment in time - the future is going to be WILD!
And at this moment in time, you need to move away from asking yourself why you are so slow - to asking the hard truth as to whether you are moving fast enough!
If there is one lesson that organizations have learned through the past few years, it's that their future survival is now heavily dependent upon the flexibility they've put in place - flexibility that demands a new level of agility within their leadership team to respond to new levels of volatility! At this moment in time, it's probably a good time to double down on that flexibility through agility - given an unprecedented future, you will need to be able to shift faster. You'll need to be able to bounce back from an unprecedented level of "VUCA - what has become known as volatility, complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity.
How important is it? Today and in the not-too-distant future, it's critical, because levels of VUCA have accelerated through the roof and will continue to do so. ! I've gone so far as to suggest that organizations should now consider putting in place a "Chief Resilience Officer" - someone responsible for steering the organization through an unprecedented level of VUCA.
The future demands leadership agility. What is it? It's the ability to shift mindsets and actions rapidly according to fast-moving circumstances. I've recently concluded a research project to take a look at the elements of agility and resilience and found this quote which outlines it perfectly.
Avoid the distraction of clarity - because going forward, there probably isn't any!
I'm testing an integration from a small Carrd.co web page to my Sendy/Amazon SES mailing list ... I have a small subscribe form at https://subscribe.jimcarroll.com
Looking for folks to try it out; see if you can subscribe, get a confirmation, and then unsubscribe.
(I promise if it fails and you don't want it, I'll take you off)
Mailchimp for my Daily Inspiration mailing list? Nope. I've got a Linux server with Sendy using Amazon SES for mailing list distribution, with a signup form via Carrd.co. Dirt cheap compared to alternatives. It's fronted by AAPanel since it's Apache.
Mastodon? I've got my own instance, so I'm @jimcarroll on futurist.info. That's on a small scale Vultr server, about $10 a month.
My Web site? A self hosted Linux server with Wordpress front ended by CloudPanel for server management since it's Nginx. A Hetzner box.
My 'other' Daily Inspiration site to replace Substack? it's a Ghost server on a Linux cloud somewhere, also fronted by CloudPanel.
And don't even get me started on my 'server farm' that I've got downstairs in my home with some old Macs running Linux, a couple of Zimablade's, a few PC Linux boxes and a 2009 Mac Pro tower.
How are they used? A good example - cheap webcams at home and the chalet? I grab the feed via RTSP into Sighthound and SecuritySpy hosted on said machines so I don't have to pay a company for my webcam stuff out in the cloud.
I once was trying to figure out at 1am how to get my 56kbps modem to support a video -dial-chat for a news interview I was doing with a news crew was coming to my house for a 7am shoot.
I guess I'm a sucker for punishment.
But I think a dedicated effort to making sure all updates are done, checking in on the systems to see they are tuned. Having good front end tools helps - I really like CloudPanel!
Then again, I'm not managing a fleet of a gazillion robots like you!
Daily Inspiration: "Invincibility is a myth" - Futurist Jim Carroll
A belief in invincibility is often the start of defeat. And in all truth, once you start to think you are invincible - you probably aren’t! You might think that you are on top of the world; that nothing bad can happen; that everything will be perfect; and then, it can all come crashing down in an instant.
- that vulnerability happens because you become blind to reality
- the resulting overconfidence, unchecked, will usually lead to failure
- that's because it's when you are feeling invincible that reality will swoop in
- your actual invincibility fades over time, so it's a mindset of caution that can better sustain success
The fact is, a mindset of Invincibility is often the start of defeat! Organizations and the people within them can easily develop an attitude of invincibility when things are great. Success after success develops a culture of complacency, and inevitably, failure becomes the result when least expected. That's because a mindset of invincibility is a barrier that blocks insight.
Often, this culture of invincibility develops at the top and then permeates throughout the organization. An attitude of invincibility at the leadership level is often the biggest challenge that an organization can face because it’s easy for someone at the top to think that everything is guaranteed. That nothing will topple them.
Their ego gets in the way; their desire for praise becomes a more important goal than any real sort of strategy.
From a personal perspective, feelings of being invincible are dangerous and can wreak havoc on your overall goals and mindset. You start to believe that you have everything under control, which makes you more susceptible to failure.
Invincibility? Watch for it, be wary of it, and always be on your guard - nothing is ever guaranteed.
Daily Inspiration: “Pause. reflect. turn the chaos into insight" - Futurist Jim Carroll
I've always liked the idea of starting to focus my mindset as a new year approaches. Given that it is only a few weeks away, I thought now might be as good a time as any!
With that in mind, starting next Monday, November 25, I'll be launching here in my Daily Inspiration a series that will carry us through to January 1: "25 Things I've Learned That Will Carry Me into 2025: A Motivational Trend Series." You'll find the series unfolding at 2025.jimcarroll.com; it will also become the focus of my Daily Inspiration each day up until and including January 1, 2025.
I've done this before. Last year, I rolled out my '24 Strategies for 2024" series in the same way, and the entire series still resides at 2024.jimcarroll.com. In 2023, I took a different approach, with a series of 23 Trends for 2023.
Back in 2019? In December of that year, I started putting together my Insight 2020 video series together, with a video post related to every theme each day. Check the first item in the series - "Check your speed!" Little did I know the speed at which organizations and people would need to adapt just a few months later as the global pandemic began to unfold!
In other years, I approached the forthcoming New Year with my "words" or "phrases" for the coming year, such as a post, "10 Phrases that Define 2022."
This method of pausing and thinking about the forthcoming year goes way back to 2006 when I wrote my original 10 Great Words outline in December 2005, These became a PDF and material I used to close many of my keynotes on stage - and are summarized at https://10greatwords.jimcarroll.com.
What's the point of all this?
I've always found it useful to take a moment to pause, reflect, and come up with some strategies for the year to come. Given the likely volatility in what comes next, I've decided to take an approach this year that will offer up my thoughts with "25 Things I've Learned That Will Carry Me into 2025." I have no idea what I am going to write about; I have yet to define my list - but that will unfold in the days to come.
Rather than losing myself in all the machinations of the insanity that is the US political system.....
Today I wrote a chapter for my upcoming book all about Thomas Kuhn, the author of the 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, outlining why his theories about scientific change lay the bedrock for my book, "Being Unique: Simple Strategies for Finding Your Creativity, Accelerating Innovation and Getting to Your Future Faster!"
This, after working on a chapter about Oblio from The Point, the 1971 Harry Niilson movie about a fellow with a round head who lived in a land where everyone had a pointed head, and then he discovered his uniqueness by wandering off into the Pointed Forest and meeting The Rockman.
Which follows a chapter all about the famous Steve Jobs book about hiring the freaks, the rebels, the outcasts...
Daily Inspiration: "Find your 11. Go further, always!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Spinal Tap knew how to do things right! They went to 11!
So should you! It was one of the most interesting moments in movie history - they had an amp with volume control that went to 10, but marked it to go to 11. It was just LOUDER!!!! It went to 11! (Nigel never understood, but hey, why not?)
Of course, it didn't really, but it is a wonderful mental leap to simply decide to go to 11 - if you decide to go to 11, you can go to 11!
What does it mean?
it means you are going to go further, try harder, put in more effort, be more epic, doing the best you can! 11! It's a fantastic idea - because that is the type of reach that we should often make in our lives!
What can we learn from establishing a goal of 11?
- excellence isn't about reaching 10 - it's about redefining what's possible beyond that, even if it doesn't make sense
- when others stop at their perceived maximum, ask yourself "What's one step further?" "How could I take this to 11?"
- it's useful to keep in mind that your personal best is a milestone, not a final destination - and a stretch milestone can be a great thing
- limitations are often self-imposed - challenge the scale you're using by breaking the scale
- innovation happens when you push past established boundaries - so challenge the boundaries
- true growth occurs in the space beyond your comfort zone - so make the zone bigger just to give you a bit more motivation
- the difference between good and exceptional is often an extra push, so setting a goal beyond the push is useful
- your "11" might look different from others - define a measure of excellence that works for you
- keep looking further with your goals - when you think you've reached your limit, there's usually another level waiting for you
- the most significant breakthroughs happen when you dare to go beyond conventional norms - challenge the norms!
- your greatest achievements lie just beyond what you think is possible, so put the possible beyond the possible
- change the goal - the moment you think you've reached the top, build a new floor
Go to 11! Be like Nigel!
---
Spinal Tap was ranked **#3** on Jim Carroll’s list of the 10 Best Innovation Themedf Rock Documentaries of All Time.
"Disruption happens slowly. And then, all at once!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Long live Twitter.
Good riddance X.
Lots of people have finally had enough of Twitter. Whether it's the toxic environment, personal revulsion with the owner, the relentless anti-Semitism that is pervasive in the network, or the fact that it has simply become unusable for anything useful, lots of people have had enough.
And as of this week, they're going to Bluesky.
Technological shifts, when they happen, are often sudden and dramatic.
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s
Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of Wired, put an oft-used spin on Hemingways's observation, noting that "the future happens slowly, and then, all at once." Right now, at this very moment, it's all at once.
What has been happening in the last few days is simply remarkable - it seems that entire communities of people have finally decided they have had enough of the rage-baiting, Nazi-leaning, extreme right-wing toxic sludge that Twitter has become post-election.
I'm a big fan of Mastodon - I have my own instance. But we can't deny the sudden shift in momentum that is happening.
Daily Inspiration: "Your inner oddness is not a flaw. It’s a superpower!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
With a little bit of downtime, I've been working in the home office on my next book.
The title keeps flipping around: right now, I've settled on "Being Unique: Simple Strategies for Finding Your Creativity, Accelerating Innovation, and Getting to Your Future Faster!"
Why right now? One thing I'm doing is that rather than losing myself in all the machinations of the insanity that is the current news cycle, I decided to make sure I'm giving all my attention to things that matter. I'm making great progress - and so when it comes out, it will be book #40 (or #41 if I count the novel I wrote when I was 15 years old, The Lion's Den.)
The book itself? It flips from here and there as I build the case as to why being unique in a conformity-oriented world is something that will get you ahead. There's a chapter about Oblio from The Point, the 1971 Harry Niilson movie about a fellow with a round head who lived in a land where everyone had a pointed head, who then discovered his uniqueness by wandering off into the Pointed Forest and meeting The Rockman. (It's the 70s. You had to be there).
This precedes an entire chapter devoted to the work of Thomas Kuhn, the author of the 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, outlining why his theories about scientific change lay out the case for uniqueness. This comes after the book opens with the famous quote by Steve Jobs about hiring the 'oddballs, the misfits, the rebels', and then takes apart the power of his thinking.
I'm extremely pleased with the progress I've made in the last few days. - I'm building what I think is a compelling case for the vital importance of uniqueness in a world increasingly defined by rapid change and disruptive innovation. When everyone is doing the same thing, it's important to do a different thing - and so by embracing our uniqueness, and actively challenging the pressures to conform, we can unleash our potential.
As Steve Jobs aptly stated, it is through embracing our unique "craziness" that we can truly make a difference and "put a ding in the universe."
Because being unique matters.
It's going to be an epic book. I'm pretty excited!
Daily Inspiration: "It's always better to play the long game" - Futurist Jim Carroll
One thing that has always guided me, and I intend to carry with me into 2025, is this statement often attributed to Bill Gates:
"We always tend to overestimate the rate of change on a two year basis, but underestimate the rate of change on a 10 year basis."
What will get me through 2025? First and foremost, knowing that thinking long-term is a crucial aspect of navigating a volatile world. Along with many other people, I think that 2025 be a wild and unpredictable year, and so keeping the long-term trends - playing the long game - will be a good way to stay focused on what matters.
That's not to say you shouldn't watch the trends in 2025 - while it's important to keep on top of short-term issues, losing sight of the long-term reality in the face of short-term challenges can be pretty detrimental. You'll end up obsessing over the volatility as opposed to focusing on the opportunity. Even so, that can be a challenge when short-term issues dominate the news. That's why I always suggest trying to keep an eye on the 'big future' - the long-term trends of real substance.
The fact is, individuals and organizations who prioritize short-term thinking often experience negative outcomes - because it can lead to missed opportunities, failed initiatives, and ultimately, failed strategies over the long term. Not only that but too much of a focus on short-term views can often bring despair - that's maybe a big issue in 2025. On the other hand, keeping a longer-term vision can help foster hope or reinforce it! It allows you to focus on long-term realities without being bogged down by short-term challenges.
All of that is going to be particularly important in 2025.
That's what I'll remind myself throughout the year of my oft-repeated phrase markets are not trends - they are often only short-term fluctuations that aren't necessarily indicative of the long-term trends shaping the future. In 2025, try to remain focused on the trends defining the future, even amidst the market volatility that will define the year.
Daily Inspiration: "Follow the science" - Futurist Jim Carroll
If anything will keep me rooted in reality and on the side of optimism in 2025 it will be by continuing to follow the science.
This is in a society in which it seems an incredible number of people continue to reject the reality of both the fact of science itself and the acceleration that is occurring, which is, by and large, improving their lives. Odd.
Consider these observations from a recent keynote. The cost of sequencing the human genome has gone from about $100 million in 2011 to $200 or less today. The cost of 3D printing from about $50 per cm2 in 2010 to less than fifty cents today. Battery storage technology has gone from $1,100 per kWh to less than $100 today.
While it's difficult to state the absolute accuracy of numbers such as this because things are moving so fast, the fact is that similar trends abound.
(lots and lots of stats in the post)
I could go on, but you get the point.
We live in the era of the acceleration of science, a relentless pace, constantly accelerating even faster. The impact is far-reaching impacts in every single human endeavor. It leads us to fantastic discoveries such as lab-grown human blood for transfusions and surgeries; automated medical and pharmaceutical research laborites; self-healing concrete that is safer and longer lasting 3d printed human organs for transplants; synthetic bacteria used for new materials science; the medical discovery that involves major discoveries every 48 hours; and other fascinating new developments.
Science is at the heart of every single discovery, every significant invention, every massive disruption, and every profound transformation.
We'll spend much of 2025 with a ridiculous theatrical experience unfolding that involves grandiose showmanship by those eager to take out their anger and frustration on the very scientists who are leading to a better future.
How do we get through it all? In my case, I'll continue to track the trends that will define our future by following the reality of science.
It's where I discover my optimism, reinforce my hope, and continue to discover my exhilaration with tomorrow.
Daily Inspiration: "Be relentless on knowledge discovery" - Futurist Jim Carroll
If there is one phrase that has guided me throughout my career, it's this one:
"Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century."
Attributed to educator Lewis Perelman, it's a powerful way to summarize the reality for most people in this fast-moving world.
What I know about 2025 is that what I know right now won't be enough to chase the opportunities that might be in front of me tomorrow - I'll probably need new knowledge, new skills, and new insight. What I also know is that the growth of knowledge is relentless, that existing knowledge is fleeting, and that developing the ability to get the right knowledge at the right time for the right purpose is becoming more important than knowledge itself.
Hence, relentless learning and relentless knowledge discovery.
Some stats bear this out - I'm a sucker for insight on how quickly our world is changing:
- the total amount of digital data created worldwide doubled approximately every two years in the 2010s and early 2020s
- scientific research publications have been growing at a rate of about 8-9% per year, doubling roughly every 9 years
- in emerging technology fields like machine learning and genomics, the volume of research papers is doubling approximately every 2-3 years
- in many scientific fields, about half of what we know today was discovered in the last 15-20 years
- the average half-life of professional skills has dropped from about 10-15 years to 5 years, meaning skills learned today may be only half as valuable in 5 years
What does this lead to? Some studies suggest that most individuals need to learn 5-10 new skills every 3-5 years to remain competitive in their field, compared to the 1980s when the same number of new skills were needed over an entire career. That's because the reality is that it's challenging for everyone, but particularly for specialists, to stay up-to-date with all developments in their field.
Daily Inspiration: "Presume, in the absence of constant action, your obsolescence" - Futurist Jim Carroll
In 2025, as in other years, I'm going to presume that what I know at this very moment won't cut it tomorrow.
The same holds for you. Not to start this motivational bit of insight with a bit of a downer, but here are some facts that should guide you,
Not only should you presume your obsolescence, you should be guided by other realities.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your irrelevance.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your stagnation.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your vulnerability.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your insignificance.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your redundancy.
Presume, in the absence of constant action, your regression.
Worse, presume, in the absence of constant action, your downfall.
Ok, so what's with that?
The fact is, relentless change means you can't presume that anything you are doing today will be relevant tomorrow, and so you need to be cognizant of a need to relentlessly reinvent.
In the context of the previous post about knowledge acceleration, consider a few tidbits.
(lots of stuff in the post)
I could go on - every single career, profession, skill, trade, and knowledge set is going out of date faster
Why is all of this happening? Because technology is coming to be the core of almost every industry, and technology is moving faster than ever before. But it's not just that - science is moving quicker, consumer preference is changing faster, and regulatory change evolves at a rapid pace. The tools we use, the vehicles we drive, the equipment that is part of our skill set - existing things become 'things from the olden days' faster while new things emerge. The fact is, we live in a whirlwind of change, and what we did before won't cut it for what we need to do next. Constant action is needed to avoid obsolescence, regardless of our skill, profession, or role.
Yikes! Hetzner rolling out significant price changes. Most of my servers are there. Not sure I'm impacted with the traffic levels, but still a pretty significant change.
I've previously been Vultr, Linode, Digital Ocean. Hate AWS since you can't figure out cost.
"Never hesitate to put curiosity into overdrive" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Be like Curious George!
More on that in a bit, but first, think about the power that exists within a curious mind. If knowledge is accelerating quickly, science is moving fast, new careers are being invented and everything else is changing at a furious pace, and you want to get ahead - doesn't it make sense to use your creativity to learn more about what's happening?
My theory has always been that a curious mind is a mind that has a healthy relationship with change, an ability to better understand the trends that will define our tomorrow, and a passion to explore new ideas.
A curious mind is a powerful mind - and from that perspective, being curious is the secret weapon we've all been blessed with.
Studies bear this out. A 2016 study in the scientific publication Neuron found that curiosity enhances learning and memory formation by "activating reward-related brain regions and hippocampal areas." In other words, curiosity breeds enjoyment and fuels drive and ambition. Intuitively, that just makes sense. Curiosity has a direct impact on our skills and careers - a Harvard Business School study in 2018 demonstrated that curious employees were 34% better at creative problem-solving, and job performance ratings were 3.1x stronger than people who were not ranked high on the curiosity scale. That had a big impact on their contribution - they were also known for innovative thinking, contributing more than 2 1/2 times the idea that others.
Hence, curiosity.
So back to Curious George - I know that curiosity has certainly fueled every single aspect of my success over time. And that's why I've always found motivation in the story of Curious George - I've loved it from the very moment I started reading the story to my children! I relayed the story in one of these posts a few years back, and it's worth sharing again.
