Architect. Sculpt. Hone.

The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past. Edition 137.

These days waves of change, seas of surprises and tectonic tsunamis are transforming our landscapes on an almost weekly basis.

Rapidly accelerating AI.

Bank failures.

Tech and other layoffs.

China Cards. Russian Wars. Indian Nationalism.

And the list goes on.

Doom scrolling. Hyper ventilating. Dramatic emotions. Screeching headlines.

All of these are understandable human reactions as we grope to find a place to stand in rapidly shifting sands.

But nothing gets better at the end of the venting of feelings though we may feel better as we rail against a world out of control.

Rather let us embrace, respect and focus our feelings to align with the forces of change

It is a time to use the fuel of feelings to architect, to sculpt, and to hone ourselves so we can continue to thrive in the future.

It’s more up to ourselves than we think.

Architect.

“The way we spend our time defines who we are.” Jonathan Estrin

One way to gain control is to architect one’s week in ways that time and its vagaries do not toss us around.

Consider setting aside an hour a day or seven hours a week to feed each of one’s physical, mental, emotional systems.

Physical operating system: A long walk or exercise.

Mental operating system: Learn or read or watch or do.

Emotional operating system:  Connecting with friends and family. Helping others.

Architecting one’s day to feed each of the operating systems is independent of income, employment status, or country in that they do not cost much if anything.

And no day where one has learned something, connected with somebody, and helped the body can be deemed a wasted day.

3 hours a day, 21 hours a week sets the foundation for the other 147 hours in mood, tempo, and control.

Build tomorrow by architecting today.

Sculpt.

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the sculptor’s job to release it” Michelangelo.

Every individual has one or more talents, and it is our job to find, feed and sculpt these talents.

Today we are increasingly in a world of builders, makers, creators, inventors and in sculpting something special out of raw materials is a way to find flow and make and leave one’s mark.

It may be writing or photography or video or writing code, cooking a meal, investing in a relationship, building a company or many other things but transforming and building is both an anti-dote and a homage to a transforming world.

We transform and are not just transformed.

Build things. Make stuff. Create something .Unleash potential.

We can release the statue within us or help others find the statue within them.

Hone.

“To hone my voice, I read everything, from books to cereal boxes, three times: once for fun, the second time to learn something new about the writing craft, and the third time was to improve that piece.”  Amanda Gorman

In a world of change we must hone ourselves to align with change since change does not care to adjust to us.

Honing through iteration, upskilling, re-inventing, and many other ways of enhancing excellence of craft.

For many of us in the coming years it will be how to incorporate, build on, extend, and leverage AI as a tool, enabler, extender, and idea generator for our work.

How to find new ways to communicate and connect as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality enable new canvasses.

Machines will replace people who do not hone their craft to incorporate machines but will not replace talent who hone skills to incorporate and complement machines.

We cannot control or impact what a world leader may do, what shocks may come or what others may have planned but we can twist ourselves and our skills into new shapes to make sure that we bend with the arc of the future and are not broken.

The future may not fit in the containers of the past.

But by architecting, sculpting and honing we will thrive in the container called the future.

Photography by Christian Fletcher.

The Davos of Marketing? On the latest What Next? Christian Muche takes us behind the scenes to preview the brand-new Possible Event at the infamous Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami (17-19 April), which he intends to turn into “The Davos of Marketing” by focusing on business and marketing opportunities for everyone who attends. Guest speakers include Elon Musk, LL Cool J, and Jon Bon Jovi. Christian also discusses what to expect from GenZ in the future, the current confusion around the Metaverse, and the many ways in which the physical and virtual worlds are converging and fusing.

Rishad Tobaccowala is an author, speaker, educator and advisor who helps people see, think and feel differently about growth. Growth of their business, their teams and themselves. For more about Rishad Tobaccowala click here.