I recently came across an article online about Yuval Noah Harari’s “predictions” of what life will be like in 2050. Harari is the author of a couple of books that I loved – Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus. This article touches on what we don’t know about the future (a lot) but also what we do know – that change is happening at a faster pace, that AI and technology is ubiquitous and will become even more so and that our ways of learning, working, managing and thinking will not serve us well going forward.

I am not sure it comforts me, but I have long talked to the Toad about the importance of critical thinking, of learning how to learn and about how to manage change as being important to him as he matures. Harari speaks of similar themes with his critical 4 C’s of the future: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.

Harari’s predictions of the future certainly have many alarming elements (AI taking over many jobs and controlling human behaviour) but he is also quick to point out that we don’t know what we don’t know so all the speculation of the future really is just spit-balling using our imaginations. I think rather than alarm the important takeaway is to be aware, be curious and be ready to ride the waves of change.

I recently had to work out of town every day in a work week. This is a huge departure from me working at home most days. What it meant is that I had to leave the boys at the Yellow Castle by 6:30 a.m. and I rolled home most days after 5:30 p.m. The boys were awesome at managing their own breakfast and getting out the door to catch the school bus as well as managing after school requirements. Well for clarity the teenager manages this mostly anyway but not so much the 11 year old and not doing it together.

 I utilized several components of the LEAN production (from the Toyota Production system) to set my family up for success. I did set-up production for breakfast with food and utensils all laid out at a kitchen station. For lunch I left a box of granola bars to ensure the teenage boy took something to school. A crockpot of something (made the night before) was set on low for dinner. I also used standard work in the form of a checklist for the Toad to ensure he was fed and ready for the mad dash to his after school activity about 5 minutes after I got home.

The week was not  ideal for us but it has taught me to let go to grow independence in my littlest boy, it highlights the invisible work that I do each and every day to keep the Yellow Castle running smoothly and makes us all appreciate that I am able to work from home 90% of the time. 

The irony – I was away all week doing my requirements for my LEAN Implementation Specialist certification.

I recently stumbled upon a blog by Austin Kleon (author of Steal Like an Artist and Keep Going) in which he provided some themes for questions when trying to interview or get to know someone. His work centered on conversing with “creative” types but I was so struck by both the simplicity of the questions and the depth of conversation that would come from the questions I made note of them.

The questions include:

• What do you read, watch and listen to?
• How do you organize and keep track of your ideas?
• What are the favourite “tools” of your trade? (Or what are your favourite apps?)
• What do you do to prompt your creative juices or get unstuck?
• How do you collaborate with others in your work?

The questions also made me ponder my own answers, how the answers will differ by generation and if there are people in my world I should ask to learn more!

Tree Toad Consulting can help with your scary to-do list!  Contact us to find out how!

In any area of your life, there are two zones – the performance zone and the learning zone.

The goal of the performance zone is to do the best you possibly can – to execute flawlessly.  The goal of the learning zone is to improve and that includes learning from mistakes. Proactively and deliberately spending time moving between these zones leads to improvement and growth.

The value of spending time in the learning zone is the time spent breaking down abilities into component skills and putting a laser focus on practice and improvement in that specific area.  Eduardo Briceno outlines 4 conditions of an optimal learning zone. They are:

• You must believe and understand that you can improve
• You must want to improve
• You must have an idea how to improve
• You must be in a low-stakes situation  so that mistakes have limited impact

Briceno in his TEDTalk points out that so much of our lives are spent in the performance zone and in situations with high stakes it is difficult to dedicate the time and energy to the learning zone. He notes that even schools – halls of learning – are actually performance zones for our children.

Commit to your time in the learning zone, make a plan for it and as a leader create the space at your work and in your home so others are encouraged to get in the zone too!

Adaptability – the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions; the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose. It sounds like a very valuable quality or skill in work with lightning speed technology changes and statistics that indicate people will change their career on average 5-7 times during their working life and where a full 30% of the total workforce will change jobs every 12 months!

In her TedTalk, Natalie Fratto talks about looking for adaptability as a key factor in choosing businesses to invest in. She highlights three specific areas that she focuses on - areas of skill that can be practiced, built upon and improved. These are:

What if – Being able to imagine, play with and plan through what-if scenarios. What if your revenue stream disappeared, what if your clients could not physically get to your location, what if a key supplier shutdown? Practicing “what if” questions stimulates alternate thinking and new possibilities.

Actively unlearning – Unlearning is the deliberate act of challenging what you already know – or think you know and allow new data to be considered and a totally new way of looking at something emerges. A phone used to be tied to a wall and was only used to talk to people – unlearning the function, role and user need related to communication spurred the technical advancement of the smartphone.

Exploration, not exploitation – This form of adaptability is about being curious for the sake of being curious, the mindset to proactively seek out the new not for the purpose of conquering or winning but to create and improve and build.

Have you got some shining adaptability skills or like me are you thinking there might be a couple of personal development goals related to adaptability on your to-do list?

Looking for love

I have been looking for love in my life. No, I am not looking for a date! I am purposefully looking for different ways love shows up in my world – how I show love, how I feel love and how others experience love. This purposeful practice comes from a nightly ritual with The Toad in which we name 3 things we are grateful for. Love in our life makes the list every night.

Love is:

• Homemade muffins
• A text message just to say Hi or to check on someone in a difficult moment
• Saving half to share
• Giving away the first or the last bite
• Creating a playlist for someone (especially if it is music you don’t listen to!)
• Using a special nickname or private reference/joke
• Filling up a water bottle or a coffee cup
• Making favourite foods

Small love makes such a huge difference. Small love is such a blessing. Small love is one of the many things the Toad and I have to be thankful for.

In this Moment

I spend a lot of time in my head. When I am in my head I am either in the past or in the future. It is a work in progress for me to be more present in the moment. I know I am not the only one who drives to the grocery store without remembering much of the journey. I know other people zone out during TV shows and when they refocus they have lost the thread of the story. I sure hope I am not the only mom who sometimes nods and smiles but tunes out the detailed retelling of the activities in a video game.

In an effort to be more present in this moment I have a semi-regular meditation practice. I also just learned two affirmations to help me stay in this moment. - “I am here” and “What is not what if”.

I am not ready to get these reminders tattooed on my arm but they are written on a couple of strategically placed sticky notes in my house. 

I like change. For clarity, I like change that I know about in advance and can plan for. Oh, and I like it best when there is a change in only one area of my life at a time. Of course, those ideal conditions rarely present themselves so the majority of the time I manage change with strategies and coping mechanisms learned over time.

I was recently facing a change in my personal life and in the days before getting more information on the change I read a quote from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. He said, “I very frequently get the question: What’s going to change in the next 10 years? And that is a very interesting question: it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: What’s not going to change in the next 10 years? And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two – because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.” reinvent 2012

What is not going to change? How grounding to be able to identify what you still know, what you can still count on, what you do not need to worry about? How empowering to be able to move forward and plan with certainty about what will remain unchanged. The act of naming what will not change and the power it gives can be utilized at work, at home, at school – another strategy to help effectively manage and cope with a world that is always changing.