There are problems out there
But there also solutions
Hello friend. Welcome back.
This time there is something I want to share with you.
In a bit of a different format (after doing the work of the day, having to struggle with a couple of calves that we intended on selling. All while being sleep deprived…)
Here it is.
Main quest 🛡
Here’s something I’ve seen in a clearer way over the past 4 months.
You can call it a problem, issue, conundrum, or a temporary situation.
Work is changing. Industries are getting disrupted. People are changing (or losing) jobs. And others can’t seem to get one.
On one hand, it seems that the job market is now impossible to crack. People are waiting months during selection processes, all to get eventually dropped ‘cause their profiles “didn’t meet expectations”. Others are seeing how difficult is to find high quality labor that can take on roles and don’t quit after a couple of months.
And on the other hand, there are people who are not even 25 years old, don’t have a college degree, haven’t even completed a few semesters, and yet… They are out there building budding startups, massive audiences, and collaboration networks that would put some PR people to shame.
Two ends of the spectrum that are so dissimilar but are happening at the same time, in real time.
How’s that happening?
Folks who have quite the amount of experience in their respective fields, now unemployed with grim career prospects, and feeling like all their time and effort spent on a career is going down the drain ‘cause their type of work is getting automated.
Now they have to restart all over on a different field. But now it’s even harder due to being overqualified and having their salary expectations unmet.
While at the same time, there are other folks who don’t have any “traditional experience”, a college degree or certifications of any kind. And yet, they are “killing” it online, not following the rules (or even actively going against them).
We are seeing it right before our eyes. The collapse of the modern system.
What once was considered “safe” and the “best route” to take, it’s now the riskiest one.
Spending a lot of time and effort getting really good at a particular type of work is no longer the “key to success” that it once was.
Being a specialist is now a thing of the past.
Being able to learn, pick up new skills fast, and start getting results in different areas (aka being a “specialized generalist”) is not the future. It’s the present already.
Like those who say that if you’re on time for an appointment, you’re already late. You needed to be a few minutes earlier.
AI has leveled up the playing field for everyone. Regardless of their language nationality, socioeconomic status and whatever else.
But many people are still asleep to that fact.
And it’s not just people from third world countries who have historically been the ones who adopt technology after the rest of the world already did.
I see people with a “traditional advantage” ignoring it. Not paying attention and thinking it’s just hype.
They are dangerously getting late to the appointment with their future.
I want to be clear.
This is not a post shilling any AI model or tool.
My point is that there are some people who are on route to a fate pretty similar to the one of the dinosaurs. While, at the same time, there are people who are capitalizing on the advantage and achieving things that were deemed impossible just 3 years ago.
The difference between those groups is not “ones are using AI and the others aren’t”.
The difference is more along the lines of having a different mindset (growth vs fixed) and the willingness or disposition to learn and try new things.
Leveling up current skills, acquiring new ones, and bonus points if you do those 2 while helping others around you as well.
(It just so happens that using AI can turbo boost your progress much more than anything can. Although you still need the fundamentals in place. After all, it’s useless to turbo boost a car that is not moving).
The problem is out there and we can keep talking about it for hours on end. But that’s no use for anyone.
Instead, let’s talk about solutions.
Let’s start and grow the conversation about what we can do about it.
Because there are many options around. There are lots of hidden opportunities and possibility around. And that’s the most relevant thing to talk about.
What’s possible, not what already exists.
And if I may share one of those solutions, it’s learning.
Supercharged Learning, more specifically.
Most people already have several skills and knowledge that is super valuable and others would pay a good amount for.
It’s just a matter of presenting it well.
In the same way that you wrap a present and make it look the most attractive for the recipient.
So there are 2 options:
A) Enhance and present your existing valuable skills in an appealing way.
B) Develop new “in demand” skills and start getting results with them.
Of course there are more options.
But that’s a nice place to start from :)
Experiments 🧪
Every time we start something new, there’s a period of adaptation. This week’s been like that for me.
I said I was going to do more structured exercise and sleep a little more (spoiler alert: didn’t do that much, just 1 day).
I started also building the habit of taking in the creatine on the afternoon along with some carbs. I did much better in that front. (I only missed 2 days out of the week.)
So at this point I would say something like “I’m going to use this experience to do better for next week“. The reality though, it’s that I’m not quite sure I can be that much consistent with the sleep almost every day (especially since I have 2 projects which I’m waiting on their outcome).
But I will keep on building the habit with the creatine and report here once I start seeing some results from it.
Power-ups ✨
I’ve told you about Rize before.
What’s new this time is that they released a version for teams and they expanded the customization for work sessions.
It no longer tracks time spent in each session with a breakdown of every site and app you used. You can configure it so that it focuses (see what I did there) on the specifics that are more relevant to you and avoid the clutter in the tracking reports.
Let me know how it works for you. I know it’ll be useful to get an accurate view of what are you spending your time on the most.
That’s it for this time.
We still have a few days of April left. This month flew by for me.
Enjoy your Sunday and catch you next weekend.
Cheers,
Juan.