Is the pace of technological change too fast for you?
To many, it is, but, like an avalanche, we are hard pressed to stop it or slow it.
Two columnists in the Feb. 2, 2014, edition of the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville weighed in on the subject.
Saritha Prabhu worries that smart phones make us stupid, and, while we are racing to make robots more human, we may be losing some of our humanity.
Prabhu saw the movie “Her,” with her son. It’s the story about a college freshman who falls in love with his artificial-intelligence-imbued operating system. It’s OK to love a device for what it does for you, but to “fall in love” with a device? Until the entire human anatomy becomes artificial, that’s physically impossible – or so it seems.
Meanwhile, business columnist Julie May talks about cars that drive themselves, virtual gaming and other technological advances that are either here, or rapidly approaching.
We’ve gone from seats that automatically adjust to your preferred driving position to backup cameras to cars that park themselves. May sees the day coming when cars will drive themselves. Indeed, TV news has also reported on cars that can communicate with other cars on the road, thus warning each other of trouble ahead – trouble that is currently out of human eyesight. Once the car is warned of trouble, it can act accordingly, thus avoiding an accident.
May talks about how the self-driving cars can enable a driver to, say, prepare for a meeting while his car is taking him to work. Or, how a driver can turn to the back seat and settle a dispute between or among children, while the car is driving itself to the destination.
Talk about implications for the future! Those of us at the beginning of our careers take heed. Think about how a machine could do your job! Impossible? Maybe now. But if you are young, you may see your job done by a machine eventually.
That device you might be falling in love with could put you out of work before you are ready to retire.
If you are in or near retirement, technology will undoubtedly make your elder years easier, and could prolong your life. Hopefully, you will never outlive your money!
Oh, you are so good at what you do that a machine could NEVER replace you? After all, machines can do simple things, but cannot possess human “creativity.” Don’t bet the farm that it will NEVER happen. And, if your job involves very little creativity, take it to the bank that you’ll see a machine do it eventually.
You older folks may have been FORCED to retire before you had enough money. Or, you gave your children lots of stuff and didn’t put away enough for your later years. Is there a way to deal with this?
There are many ways to create an income stream just in case a machine replaces you, or to boost your retirement nest egg. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You might see a “people” business for which technological advances will only be a plus.
As for technology advancement’s pace, it’s out of your hands. You can resist it personally by not availing yourself of these new products and devices, but your protest will not stop or slow anything. Eventually, you will succumb. So, you might find your stress level reduced if you EMBRACE change, rather than resist it.
If birth rates are already declining among some population groups, imagine how much they will decline if humans “fall in love” only with devices.
Peter
Monthly Archives: February 2014
DREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
We all dream.
Some of us only dream in slumber. Some of us daydream to alleviate boredom. Still others dream while conscious – and consciously try to make those dreams come true.
Some of us never recall the dreams in slumber. Some of us recall them vividly, then try to decipher what they mean. These are the unimportant dreams, so it matters not whether they are recalled.
The daydreams are usually fantasy, and are treated as such. Perhaps you are longing to meet that special person that hardly, if at all, knows you exist. Perhaps you are dreaming about what you would do if you were the boss. These events may actually happen, but the percentages are really low.
The dreams of the conscious can make your life what you want it to be. As Rory Vaden, author of “Take the Stairs,” and a self-discipline strategist advises, “Chase your dreams now.”
Vaden discussed dreaming in a Jan.26, 2014, column in the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
The dreams of the conscious are not dreams of fantasy. They are, indeed, purposeful dreams. The dreamers make them purposeful by writing them down, looking at them every day and setting achievement dates. Achievement dates are not deadlines, but are set to encourage urgency. With urgency, comes commitment and diligence.
Some say to the dreamers, “get real.” No “realist” ever finds greatness. Realists exist only in the world of the narrowly possible. Dreamers, to paraphrase a famous quotation, don’t just look at what is and say, “why?” They instead look at what can be and say, “why not?”
The realist lives in a world of what they believe has to be. Their dreams are but daydreams of fantasy. They are “grounded,” lest they be in the ground.
We certainly need a few realists to do some of the things that need doing. We can’t all be looking for personal fulfillment, or the next big thing, can we?
Perhaps we can be, at least to start, part-time dreamers and full-time realists. We never lose sight of our dreams, and we look at them, and their achievement dates, daily. But we know that they will come and we will not be realists forever.
So, said the elephant in the room, how does one achieve his dream once he has recorded it?
There are many ways one can achieve a dream. Perhaps he can invent something no one has thought of. Perhaps he can work hard, save his money, invest well and eventually see, if not complete financial freedom, no financial worries.
But real dreamers don’t settle just for “no worries.” They want complete financial freedom. There are several ways to achieve that freedom. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
This dream vehicle can work for anyone, regardless of education, background or circumstance.
You see, dreamers can have “average” backgrounds – even poor ones. But they become above-average earners by having a dream, and doing what they need to do to achieve it.
Of course, you have to want your dream badly enough to go for it. But if you do, follow Vaden’s advice:
“Overthrow the desire deficit and chase down your dreams. You are the person. Today is the day. Now is the time.
Do it.”
Peter
LUCK: ANYONE CAN HAVE IT
“If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
That’s paraphrasing a lyric from a song, titled “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me,” made popular on the TV show “Hee Haw.”
We’ve often thought of those who have made it in their lives as “lucky.” By extension, we’ve regarded those who are struggling as “unlucky.”
We certainly have things happen to us that we can’t control. Some are good. Some are bad. We always hope that we can cherish the good in our lives, and overcome the bad.
But as TV star and successful businesswoman Oprah Winfrey has said, “Luck is a matter or preparation meeting opportunity.”
Most successful people view themselves as lucky. Yet their luck did not come by accident. It came from the wisdom of seeing an opportunity, and the work it took to make it happen.
Some of us shy away from opportunity. We think we don’t have it in us to pursue it. Or, to put it bluntly, we don’t have the AMBITION it takes to make it happen.
Those who believe luck is an accident also believe it will never come to them. Actually, most people have enough good in their lives to consider themselves lucky, but they don’t see it. Even if an opportunity were placed in front of them, they wouldn’t see it. They don’t want it badly enough to see it.
But let’s break down Winfrey’s statement: how does one “prepare” for luck? Preparation starts with a dream. Dreams start when “realism” is suspended. We all like to consider ourselves realists, but realism gets in the way of dreams.
After one establishes a dream, one needs the desire to make it happen. Such dreamers have just enough realism to know that their dreams may not come overnight. They also know that they will need to work to make it happen.
In short, a dream, plus the desire to make it happen, is preparation for luck.
Then comes opportunity. The preparation for luck allows a person to KNOW an opportunity when he sees it. He is constantly looking for the opportunity, and the power of his dream will allow him to eventually find it.
How does he find opportunity? He looks for it. He meets people. He finds out how they became successful. He determines whether the vehicle other people have used would work for him. If so, he goes for it.
Since he knows he will have to work, he is just looking for the vehicle for his efforts. There are many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It may or may not be the vehicle you are looking for, but if you have the dream and the desire, it just might work for you.
When you’ve prepared to meet opportunity, know that success may not come quickly, or without setbacks. You’ll meet some pitfalls on your journey to success. You might even have to see less of your friends who sing, in one form or another, “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me.”
So if your dream is big enough, and your drive is strong enough, you have sufficiently prepared to be lucky. You will know enough, despite how little or much education you’ve had, to look for a good opportunity, and to recognize it when you find it.
Best of luck to you!
Peter
GET UP, DUST OFF AND ACT
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” Henry David Thoreau
Circumstances can try to beat you down.
Yet, you get back up.
It’s part of who we are. When something knocks us down, we get up. We dust ourselves off. And, we go on doing what we need to do.
The terrorists try to knock us down. Sometimes, they succeed. When they do, we get up, dust ourselves off, mourn the dead, take care of the injured and go on being the free people they hate.
When our jobs go away, we hurt for a while. But, ultimately, we find solace in our ability to move on. Often, when we move on, we move to bigger and better things.
When circumstances beat you down, there’s often very little you could have done to prevent them. But you have full control over how you respond to them.
Sometimes, it means leaving the coziness of one’s comfort zone. Yes, even the cushiest comfort zones wear out. When they do, we have to get up, dust ourselves off and go find a new comfort zone.
Finding a new comfort zone is, by definition, uncomfortable at first. Perhaps, we have to try some things we’ve never tried. We have to learn things we didn’t know before. Most importantly, we have to ACT. Sitting in a worn-out comfort zone will not produce the new one that you need.
We have to get up, dust ourselves off and look for a new comfort zone.
We may look in places we’ve never looked before. Sometimes, we have to get away from the friends we’ve always had. Perhaps they are uncomfortable, too. And, they want YOU to remain as uncomfortable as they are, for as long as they are uncomfortable. Perhaps they sit and wait for the new comfort zone to come, and whine when it won’t come by itself.
Sometimes, our friends talk only about the past. They see the past as the best days or years of their lives. They see a future of gloom and doom. When not sitting in their worn-out comfort zone, they stand, with hands on hips, looking in disgust at the future.
We, on the other hand, see the future as bright. In fact, we are going to make it bright by finding a new comfort zone. That old comfort zone is gone forever.
So where do we find our new comfort zone? Perhaps it is staring us in the face, and we don’t see it. In other words, we may be looking at what’s good in our lives, and not notice it. The first step is noticing the good.
The second step is looking for the great future of our dreams. That may not come to us overnight, and it may come in a form we are not expecting. To check out one such form, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Few know about it yet, but those who do, see it as the best thing they’ve ever done.
As we look for our future comfort zone, we may make new friends. We may see good things come into our lives that we had never expected. What’s important is that we stood up, dusted ourselves off and acted.
Not all actions yield the results we want. So we try again. We keep moving and growing. We make our own new lives. Thoreau never envisioned times as we have seen recently. But he was spot on about man’s ability to get up, dust himself off and act.
Peter