We're in the middle of annual planning - which I mentioned in my video on Chunking Higher.
Today, I want to focus on another aspect of getting better at planning and alignment ... the idea of thinking about your thinking.
I shot a video that discusses several useful techniques to amplify decision making.
One of the ideas is something called "Think, Feel, Know." Basically, it explains that you have to deal with superficial thoughts before getting to deeper feelings. Then, you have to deal with those feelings before you get to "knowing".
Another technique discussed in the video involves adding time to look for "insights" after working on something. Those insights are often the seeds for something greater.
Let me know what you think of the video ... and I'd love to hear ways you try to amplify intelligence.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't. You're right. - Henry Ford
Processing the possibilities of tomorrow is very difficult for humans. Part of the problem is that we're wired to think locally and linearly. It's a monumental task for us to fathom exponential growth ... let alone its implications. For example, consider what happened to seemingly smart and forward-looking companies like Kodak, Blockbuster Video, or RadioShack.
The world changes quickly.
Change is constant. The wheels of innovation and commerce spin ever-faster (whether you're ready for it, or not).
As a practical matter, it means that you get to choose between the shorter-term pain of trying to keep up ... or the longer-term pain of being left behind. Said a different way, you have to choose between chaos or nothing.
It is hard to keep up – and harder to stay ahead.
Personally, I went from being one of the youngest and most tech-savvy people in the room to a not-so-young person close to losing their early-adopter beanie. Sometimes it almost seems like my kids expect me to ask them to set my VCR so it stops flashing 12:00 AM all day.
My company may not really do "rocket science", but it's pretty close. We use exponential technologies like high-performance computing, AI, and machine learning.
But, as we get "techier," I get less so ... and my role gets less technical, over time, too.
Because of my age, experience, and tendency to like pioneering ... I've battled technology for decades.
Don't get me wrong, technology has always been my friend. I still love it. But my relationship with it is different now.
I tend to focus on the bigger picture. Also, I tend to appreciate technology on a more "intellectual" or "conceptual level" – but in a far less detailed way (and with much less expectation of using the technology, directly, myself).
The Bigger Picture
My father said, not worrying about all the little details helped him see the bigger picture and focus on what was possible.
You don't have to focus on the technological details to predict its progress. Anticipating what people will need is a great predictor of what will get built. That means predicting "what" is often easier than predicting "how'. Why? Because technology doesn't often look for a problem; rather, it is the response to one.
Here's a video from 1974 of Arthur C. Clarke making some very impressive guesses about the future of technology.
Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, augmented reality, neuro-interfaces, and a host of exponential technologies are going to change the face and nature of our lives (and perhaps life itself). Some of these technologies have become inevitabilities ... but what they enable is virtually limitless.
In 2016, I received this e-mail from my oldest son.
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 7:09 PM To: Howard Getson Subject: FYI: Security Stuff
FYI - I just got an alert that my email address and my Gmail password were available to be purchased online.
I only use that password for my email, and I have 2-factor enabled, so I'm fine. Though this is further proof that just about everything is hacked and available online.
If you don't have two-factor enabled on your accounts, you really need to do it.
Since then, security has only become a bigger issue. I wrote about the Equifax event, but there are countless examples of similar events (and yes, I mean countless).
When people think of hacking, they often think of a Distributed Denial Of Service (DDOS) attack or the media representation of people breaking into your system in a heist.
In reality, the greatest weakness is people; it's you ... the user. It's the user that turns off automatic patch updating. It's the user that uses thumb drives. It's the user that reuses the same passwords.
Whether it's malicious or unintentional, humans are often the biggest security weakness.
As proof, watch the first few minutes of the video below to watch a social engineer find out this man's email and gain access to his cell phone account. She locks him out of his account at the same time.
I started the video with the interesting part, so you don't have to search for it.
As for passwords ... I recommend not knowing them. You can't disclose what you don't know. Consequently, I recommend a password manager like LastPass or 1Password.
Some other basic tips include:
Keep all of your software up to date (to avoid extra vulnerabilities)
Don't use public wifi if you can help it (and use a VPN if you can't)
Have a firewall on your computer and a back-up of all your important data
Never share your personal information on an e-mail or a call that you did not initiate - if they legitimately need your information, you can call them back
Don't trust strangers on the internet (no, a Nigerian Prince does not want to send you money)
How many cybersecurity measures you take comes down to two simple questions ... First, how much pain and hassle are you willing to deal with to protect your data? And, second, how much pain is a hacker willing to go through to get to your data?
It doesn't make sense to put all your data in a lockbox computer that never connects to a network ... nevertheless, it might be worth it to go to that extreme for pieces of your data.
Think about what the data is worth to you, or someone else, and protect it accordingly.
We've talked a lot about hyperbole in the news recently – and, unfortunately, it isn't limited to politics.
People seek things that engage and entertain. Consequently, other people's business is to provide things that engage and entertain ... even if those things aren't necessarily accurate or truthful.
For example, I've seen many "silly" artificial intelligence and cybersecurity references on tv shows or the news. These are obviously "hot topics." But, shocking simplifications are used because most people aren't technical enough to understand real examples.
In AI, it's pretty easy to notice because you'll see killer robots or humans losing their jobs and being left with nothing to do.
Cybersecurity is tough for "normies" to get as well. For a laugh, check out this clip from NCIS.
On top of the gibberish, and the unrealistic imagery on what a hacking attempt would look like, do you think two people typing on the same keyboard would be effective? And, reminiscent of a "peek-a-boo" game you play with babies, unplugging the monitor won't stop a hacker (it will only hide the screen from you).
Earlier in the Pandemic - in June - I had a Zoom meeting with Matthew Piepenburg of Signals Matter. Even though it was a private discussion, there was so much value in our discussion we decided to share parts of it here.
While Matt's understanding of markets is based on Macro/Value investing, we use advanced AI and quantitative methods for our approach.
As you might expect, there are a lot of differences in how we view the world, decision making, and the current market environment. Nonetheless, we share a lot of common beliefs as well.
Our talk explores a number of interesting areas and concepts. I encourage you to watch it below.
To summarize a couple of the key points, markets are not the economy, and normal market dynamics have been out the window for a long time. In addition, part of why you're seeing increased volatility and noise is that there are so many interventions and artificial inputs to our market system.
While Matt and I may approach the world with very different lenses, we both believe in "timeless wisdom".
Ask yourself, What was true yesterday, today, and will stay true tomorrow?
That is part of the reason we focus on emerging technologies and constant innovation ... they remain relevant.
Something we can both agree on is that if you don't know what your edge is ... you don't have one.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
Let me know what other topics you'd like to hear more about.
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - December 13th, 2020
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
Trading Links:
Posted at 04:41 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Gadgets, Games, Healthy Lifestyle, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Personal Development, Religion, Science, Sports, Trading, Trading Tools, Travel, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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