The Future Is Here, And It’s Now Being Evenly Distributed
If you work in tech you have probably heard this quote over the years: “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” William Gibson - August 1993
The Oculus, New York City
If you work in tech you have probably heard this quote over the years:
“The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.”
William Gibson - August 1993
Having lived in New York City for most of the past decade, I have often felt like New Yorkers live in the future compared to others around the country. Fast-casual salad restaurants, seamless, electric bike shares, uber, revel, spectacles, ramen burgers, cronuts, the void VR, capsule, etc, all existed in New York City (and to be fair other tier-1 cities) before making their way out into the smaller cities, then the suburbs, and finally the rural parts of America. Normally the process of “innovation sprawl” can take years.
In the very short amount of time we have all been in this global COVID-19 pandemic, technological innovation has been sprawling faster than ever. Everyone everywhere is being forced into the future. Using and adjusting to future technology to help cope in their own ways with the virus.
Learning for Pre-K through College has moved online, those younger students who didn’t have access to a computer at home, are now getting iPads. Education departments are also working to finally solve the issue of internet access for those students who lacked access to adequate internet (about 29% of households across NYC).
Traditionally online courses are seeing an increase as well. Two years ago I taught a course on Skillshare called Productivity Today. Normally January is the most-watched month of the year for all the courses on the platform, due to the increase in new year’s resolutions. But recently, with everyone working from home, March and April’s view times are beating the record high’s of January’s past.
While most young urban professionals (yuppies as the boomers call us) used to be the core customers of food delivery apps like Seamless, Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc. Now everyone, at every age, is using them. And every restaurant that wants to stay alive has been onboarded to deliver through them, greatly increasing the supply side of these marketplaces.
The same goes for grocery delivery apps like Instacart, Amazon Prime, and local grocery chains that have white-labeled their own solutions, such as Wegmans (which is actually powered by Instacart on the backend).
“This level of online shopping was, at best, forecast to occur five years from now,” says David Bishop, a partner at grocery research consultancy Brick Meets Click. “The demand has overwhelmed the capacity of the retailers.” In 2019, Bishop reports that 6.3% of grocery-related spending was through online orders, bringing in around $29 billion in U.S. orders alone. That’s a lot of green, but it’s a fraction of the $650 billion industry. “Shopping online costs more for the retailer, and was a low priority for grocery stores,” Bishop says. “They offered it as an add-on, not a core part of their business.”
Everything flipped this March. With shelter-in-place orders across the country, online groceries are now a hot commodity. About 40% of orders come from first-time shoppers, according to Gordon Hasket Research.
- Excerpt from The Real Reason It’s So Hard to Order Groceries Online Right Now
When I don’t order online and I do really need to get something from a physical retail location, I have been using contactless Apple Pay almost every time. In the times of social distancing, no cashier wants to touch a card or money I hand them and contactless payments have also flipped to become the norm.
You have probably downloaded Zoom recently, which has exploded massively in growth.
Along with FaceTime, Houseparty, and the up & coming Clubhouse which are bringing how we “hang out” with friends and family into the future.
Slack, which is enabling companies to communicate with their employee’s during remote working from home has also seen explosive growth. From Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack:
In lieu of expensive gym memberships, at-home workouts are taking off with Fitbod, Obe Fitness, and Peloton. And most fitness instructors are replacing their employer/gym by building a direct to consumer relationship, and teaching classes over Zoom or Instagram.
I’m not going to even touch on the changes happening in healthcare, because that could be its own post in and of itself.
We were headed toward a future at the end of 2019. A future that was likely inevitable but still 5-10 years away.
Now in 2020, this coronavirus is global and it’s accelerating the support for new technologies all around the entire world, all at once. The future is now being more evenly distributed than ever before. And when that happens, this fast, you not only arrive at the expected future sooner than later, but you pave a new foundation. Allowing the “next wave” of technology to build on top.
Tomorrowland
Smart Goals And Planning Your Future
The past year has been a long grind and while it’s not January yet, admit it, the thoughts of creative ways you can reinvent yourself in the new year have probably already started. You have probably been extremely busy these past twelve months, but, as you know, being busy does not mean you are being productive.
The past year has been a long grind and while it’s not January yet, admit it, the thoughts of creative ways you can reinvent yourself in the new year have probably already started. You have probably been extremely busy these past twelve months, but, as you know, being busy does not mean you are being productive.
Founder Institute Team Offsite 2018
If you are a rockstar founder or CEO though, you may have already met with your team to gather internal feedback, discuss a rough plan, come up with some smart goals, and chart the corporate course for the next 365 days. One example of how awesome teams do annual planning for the coming year; comes from our Founder Institute team offsite a few weeks ago in Lake Tahoe. As, Founder Institute CEO Adeo Ressi writes: “If you do not know what you want and where you are going, then you will never reach your potential.” Here is the 5 step process that we use at Founder Institute for our annual planning:
So this got me thinking. What if individuals planned for the next year with the same thoughtfulness and designed precision that companies do. To create a proper future plan and their own smart goals. Like most people, I juggle many things; I run Founder Institute New York, host the Ambition Today podcast, helped start the NYC Innovation Collective non profit, and have a personal life, etc. The first and non obvious answer is I have help and amazing teammates. Never take those around you for granted and make sure you have help. The second answer is that I view all of these as aligned to my personal core mission statement. I have a north star that guides my career choices day in and day out. It helps determine, at a high level, what I should say yes and no to.
This long term planning to set smart goals can be vital. It is the foundation upon which you manage your daily routine or drive monthly traction for your company. This tweetstorm from Julien Smith, CEO of Breather, does a great job stating how important it can be to stay focused on your north star. And more importantly how the effects of your long term grind start to manifest in your life. I recommend reading the whole tweetstorm, but here are two highlights:
So what things should you keep in mind as you plan your future smart goals and what you want achieve in the next 8,765 hours.
One: Aligning Yourself
First you need to digest your own thoughts. You need to step out of your normal day to day routine to take a step back. Schedule time to reflect, sans technology device. Just you and your thoughts. Even if is just for a cup of coffee one morning a week, or during a run. Go to a museum or visit a bookstore. Read a self help book. Watch an inspiring movie. Keep an open mind. Do whatever you need to in order to break out of your normal headspace. The clarity this will provide you will be very important.
Second, you need to gather raw and honest feedback from those you most respect and admire. Find someone whose actions or lifestyle you want to emulate and see what they do. Ask them what their routines are like and how they have accomplished similar goals in their own lives. Get an understanding of the blueprint, so you can start to build it for yourself.
Two: Define Your North Star
If you know where you want to go in life, you want to try formalize it into one sentence. Be sure you take the time to workshop it. It might go through many iterations, until it is something you love and feel passionate about. Consider it your personal mission statement. For example, my personal mission statement is to “Help Founders Improve The Lives Of One Billion People”.
If you don’t have a “north star” or a long term goal yet, that is fine. I assure you that you are not alone. And the answer for you is to go back to step one and aim to get as many new experiences as possible in the coming year. You need to test drive new places and people. Join an extracurricular team or activity in the evenings. Go volunteer somewhere. When you find something that feels right, I promise you, you will know.
Three: Establish Measurable Smart Goals
Smart Goals Definition: A goal which needs to conform to the following criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. ie; S.M.A.R.T. is the smart goals acronym.
Now that you know what you want to accomplish from step two, it is time to define what smart goals will determine success for you. When smart goals setting try to only have a handful of primary objectives. Above five and it will be harder to accomplish them in only a few months. These smart goals are the steps that take you closer to achieving your core mission.
Make sure you quantify the smart goals. Here are some great smart goal examples. If your smart goals are health related you could set smart goals around a specific desired weight, business milestones, daily food consumption, weekly number of workouts, average heart rate, etc. If accomplishing one of these smart goals will require the help of another person, for example a significant other, then you should discuss the smart goals with them and involve them in the process Just like these smart goal examples, you need to always be including a measurement along with the objective.
Four: Create Actionable Plans
Now that you have a mission and list of smart goals, it is time to determine the plans you will execute to work toward accomplishing them.
I like to start by writing the actionable first step underneath each goal. This way when you read it, you don’t get overwhelmed. You will simply know the next action that needs to be taken. From there you can take some time to expand and to build out a repeatable process. Writing out a great process can be hard at the onset because it takes time, but the long term freedom it affords you can be a game changer.
Five: Develop Tracking Systems
You will need to track your plans in order to measure success, thereby determining if you have accomplished the smart goals necessary to bring you closer to achieving your mission.
As with all things in life, accomplishing these smart goals will require time. You should keep a digital calendar. This will allow you to schedule recurring time every week in your schedule to focus on the set smart goals.
If your smart goals require other people then create weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings with those people to review them together.
Allow yourself to view your progress. Create a visual space where you can, at a glance, see how you are doing. At Founder Institute we create dashboards using software. I personally use Todoist to track my tasks. But you could use something as simple as a whiteboard, which you take the time to update weekly.
I like to stack order my smart goals by the things in the next 90 days that will bring in the most revenue. Depending on your life, this can at times be a shifting and moving target. Which is why I re-evaluate it throughout the year.
It will take time to accomplish the five steps, but the result will be a strong annual plan for your life. In the coming months you will accomplish more than ever before. Ensuring that your day to day grind is not just busy work, but meaningful work bringing you closer to the long term vision for your life.
If you want some help and guidance in 2019, be sure to check out two of our Founder Institute NY portfolio company’s which might be able to help! Tenshey is on a mission to advance gender diversity and leadership development through executive coaching. The Lighthouse is a curated community of vetted industry insiders providing tailored career advice and support.
Remember, that the long term grind can be a powerful force. When you work toward your personal mission the long tail rewards will be the most meaningful! You may fail more than once, but keep going. That’s the moment when everyone else quits and you start to become an outlier. That’s when you break away from the pack. Keep the grind going.
I for one am excited for 2019, as major internet milestones are passed. Truth Seekers are pushed to the forefront of society as the Time Person of the Year. Private companies like Space X set records for most flights in a year. As investors leave mobile behind to look for new areas to back, such as blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, and more. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow looks like as we build it together!
The Future Is Empathy
Merriam Webster simply defines Empathy as: "the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else's feelings".
Merriam Webster simply defines Empathy as:
"the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else's feelings"
Empathy requires a deeper level of realism than sympathy. It requires the ability to look from another persons perspective, not to it from your own perspective.
Monday of this week started with honoring Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. and his dream. Dr King was able to lead during his lifetime because he had a deep empathy for the other people in this world going through similar struggles. The greatest leaders of our time use empathy to gain followers and with those followers collectively solve large problems.
Today Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released a new song about the role white privilege has played in their life. The song chronicles Macklemore's recent experiences marching in Black Lives Matter protests and being a part of the hip hop community. The song shows an understanding and empathy of both sides of the table. The greatest artists of our time use empathy to create great and relatable work.
Steve Job's knew empathy in design was the path to creating groundbreaking new products. The best product designers know their customers because they are their customers. Empathy guides the creation of the product. The greatest products of our time were built by founders who had the ability to empathize with the customers they are helping.
Last week I stood in the middle of a field in Africa while a plane flew overhead and dropped bags of food to the ground. Myself and others began to run, grab as much as we could, and carried home what we had picked up to feed our families. I experienced this shockingly first person perspective while wearing a $20 Google cardboard Virtual Reality headset in my living room. I was amazed at how real it felt. You should have seen the look on my Grandfather's face when I had him try it too.
Technology enabled me and the others who tried it, to in that moment empathize immediately in a way that reading text simply never could do as powerfully or effectively. Empathy is an incredibly powerful ability. With constant new technology and the increasing free flow of information on the internet I expect empathy to grow to be a more naturally occurring and common part of society. The earliest test of this theory is and will be the attitude of Millennials as they have had the greatest exposure to new technologies and open information. In the next few years we will see if I am right, but I believe an open mind and empathy are the way of the future.
Tim Ferriss and Naval Ravikant Teach You About Life, Startups, And The Future
You have to live in the now in order to be happy. The key to the American Dream is balancing work and non work. The Information Age is undoing the industrial revolutions. Company sizes are shrinking and we are trending toward more and more people working for themselves. Time is more scarce then money, make sure you spend it wisely.
If you haven't listened to Tim Ferriss and Naval Ravikant recently on the Tim Ferris Show, you should. You can listen to it here:
Get ready to learn about life, startups, and the future. Some of my favorite quotes from the conversation were:
"You have to live in the now in order to be happy."
"The key to the American Dream is balancing work and non work."
"The Information Age is undoing the industrial revolutions. Company sizes are shrinking and we are trending toward more and more people working for themselves."
"Time is more scarce then money, make sure you spend it wisely."
Tim Ferris on each episode, deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics and tricks you can use.
Naval Ravikant is the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList, an online platform helping you find a great startup job, invest in a startup or raise money for your own startup. Naval has invested in Twitter, Uber, Yammer, Postmates, Wish, Thumbtack, and OpenDNS.
Peter Diamandis On The Power Of Thinking Exponentially
"If you want to become a billionaire then help a billion people" - Peter Diamandis
James Cameron, Peter Diamandis, Elon Musk, and others experiencing weightlessness on a Zero G flight.
I saw Peter Diamandis speak recently at the 2015 Founder Showcase. In case you didn't know Peter started the X Prize, has backed Tesla, and created the Singularity University to name a few achievements. He starts his talk with the foundation that "an entrepreneur today can touch the lives of a billion people". Peter talks about how in just 30 doublings of something you can reach the number billion.
"If you want to become a billionaire then help a billion people" - Peter Diamandis
The power of thinking exponentially and not linear has the ability to unlock a whole new world of technology and science. Peter shows this by tracking the success trajectories of companies like Kodak to Instagram across various decades. If we look at how that trajectory predicts the future ahead of us we are in for some unfathomable achievements in the world. Somebody has to start these dreams and companies. It might as well be you. So take some time and learn how to think exponentially. Watch this exclusive video below and don't forget to also subscribe to my Youtube Channel here: