127: How to Future-Proof Your Mind in a World That Changes Fast
Do you ever wonder about the prediction that we would have "flying cars" by now (in 2026)?
Sure, we have EVs (Electric Vehicles) but I haven't spotted any with wings yet.
Whether or not we're in the flying car era, the future has and will always come at us fast.
For example, we hold technology in our hands that connects us in real time to local, national, and global news events, entertainment, and loved ones across town, across the country, or around the globe.
Some welcome the change and can't wait to ride the next wave of innovation.
Others relish the good-ole-days when we dialed our phones, shopped for our meals instead of having them "dashed" or "ubered" to our doors, and prefer to keep all four wheels gassed up and on the ground.
I'm more of the former, I love innovation but I'm not interested in having it do my thinking or my living FOR me.
The future isn't the enemy, how we embrace it and keep an open mind to what it sends our way is where the challenge exists.
Future proofing is more about relevance and resilience than burying your good-ole-days head in the sand.
How you think about what the future holds will enable you to age with relevance instead of staying stuck in irrelevance
Your mind and it's capacity to expand around what the future brings is a super-power of sorts.
- The willingness to think for yourself
- The capacity to be open to what's new and innovative
- The opportunity to claim your unique place in history
Think freely
The future is looking more and more passive with regards to how we personally create and access information.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) while a useful tool, and one I use daily, is given to much freedom (in my opinion) to think for us when it should be thinking with us.
The ability to think, process, ponder, and wonder about an idea, a problem, or a solution will keep your mind in a free flow state - something AI cannot be allowed to replace.
Thinking exercises your mental muscles.
- Put pen to paper before you type a prompt into an online search
- Sit with your thoughts before you scroll on your phone
- Allow for thinking, dreaming, and meditative time in your daily routine
Keep an open mind
What once future innovation did you resist that is now a normal part of your life?
This will date me but was it going from a dial-up phone to a push button phone, from a DVD to a streaming service, or from a Google search to a more thorough AI prompted solution?
An open mind means you're willing to embrace what the future brings, but you discern the value of whatever innovation arrives based on it's usefulness, not its perceived threat.
Open mindedness keeps you expectant and capable of welcoming something new and potentially beneficial.
There's always a better way to do something and an open (thinking) mind opens the door to those potentially better solutions.
Celebrate your era
Did you ever think you'd experience what you do in this era of history.
Think about whatever you consider your "golden era": the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or 2000's and every life-enhancing and fascinating innovation since then.
I remember when the first iPhone hit the marketplace around the late 2000's.
The technology was captivating with communication, music, photography, and the internet in your pocket, and an active keyboard that didn't require double or triple clicks to create a word.
If you're reading this you, yes you, were alive in an era that's seen the future come at you fast with technology breakthroughs that you can use to your advantage.
It's an amazing time to be alive, frankly it always has been.
This era was once an envisioned future era and now you're living in it.
Imagine what will fascinate you in the coming era.
Whatever awaits your fascination...
- Think for yourself
- Keep an open mind
- Celebrate the era you're in
Press on...
Eddie