A wishlist is different from a plan. Our hopes, dreams, and desires are great when they are realized, but having a plan for everything might be a sign that you feel unsafe.
Much better is to have a process. A posture. Creating resilient systems will trump a map.
I think the most interesting thing about this idea of AI rising to take over the world is that it says so much about us as humans. That this machine we built will act like humans have in the world today and in the past. Colonization, murder, wars, discrimination—Yes, of course, we are worried. Look at the history of how we have treated people, the earth, and the animals in the past.
In the middle of the night, when you are lying in bed and the place is quiet, that is when your deepest worries will become their loudest.
You can’t control yourself to go to sleep; it happens naturally. So, in the meantime, when you are stressed, write down what you are worried about and what you will do about it in the next two weeks. If there is nothing to do, then rest easy. If there is, you know you can get to work in the morning.
I have found this so helpful on the days that it is hard to turn it off. Try it.
The thing is, in our modern world, isolation has never been easier to maintain. With a few clicks, your food can be ordered and delivered, Amazon can send everything you need, and the online sphere can feel like a community replacement. Houses are built to be separated. Jobs are too far by foot for most. On and on, you can see a world built to isolate ourselves.
The problem is that your internal narrative can run rampant when gone unchecked without other people around. If you tell yourself a story without anyone to share it with, you can learn to believe anything.
The spotlight effect is this idea that one believes they are being noticed more than they really are. We are the center of attention, and the world revolves around us. It is an inaccurate assessment of how people view us. We can become paranoid and blow the story up, thinking what we are going through is unique, or become selfish in our thought patterns. (Me, me, me!)
This idea that everyone is watching us can be detrimental in a world that shames us for making mistakes. The thing is, even the most popular books are not by 99+% of the population. So are the biggest movies or the most viral Tic Toks. Despite all these channels, most people will never see our work. The mistake we can fix is doing our best, knowing that if we do make a mistake, we get the right to try again. And we can do this floating in a world that most people will never notice. We just need some people to notice.
This is a problem with imagination. On one hand, it can unlock a door of what could be, but on the other, it ignores what is.
When we live in denial, we are fully engrossed in the story we tell ourselves. Cherry picking bits of data to keep reinforcing the narration.
This makes the hard moments even harder. Because what we might be doing is delaying the inevitable.
The need for a specific outcome can change so much of our behaviors.
Shortcuts are obvious. People make shortcuts under duress with a deadline. Of course, not all shortcuts are harmful, either.
Blind spots occur when we are unwilling to understand the engineering or how something works. They are made worse when we are short on discretionary time.
When time and resources are available, we can become curious about what will happen next. We may be surprised by how things work out. Instead of leaning on our expectations, we can make room for our imaginations.
It’s hard to remember the last time I played catch with my dad. And I don’t know when my last blog post will be either. I just know someday it will be over too.
Because everything ends.
The point is that one day will come, and it will be the last time we do something. The thing is, most of the time, we don’t know when something will be the last time.
We don’t always get a goodbye. In fact, it might be a privilege to get one.
Most of us are not great communicators. We think we are. But, too often, we fall into these common pitfalls:
Communication is a skill. Like any skill, you can get better with more miles.
Staying in a relationship too long or working through med school knowing you can’t stand it—the wrong path is still the wrong path regardless of our intentions.
The saying goes, “The longer you stay on the wrong train, the more expensive it is to get home.”
The path is rarely straightforward. But it doesn’t mean it is zig-zagging, either. Sometimes, we must reverse course altogether.
A birthday surprise is challenging to pull off. Mainly because the person knows it’s their birthday to begin with. There are expectations that surprises can come at any moment.
But when we are surprised by the results of an election, it’s most likely that we weren’t paying attention to the signs. This might say so much more about the content of your algorithm and the social media that you consume—that our expectations didn’t match what was happening.
Predicting the behavior of the masses will always be a surprise. So much depends on how we feel, what we truly believe, and what we want to signal. And we seek the outcomes that match who we think we are.
Josh Allred's Blog 