In The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma, British AI entrepreneur, co-founder of DeepMind, and current CEO of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman describes the unprecedented risk that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies pose to our world moving forward. He sets out the existential dilemma of our times and describes how only “containment” can save us.
“From where we stand today, it appears that containing this wave—that is, controlling, curbing, or even stopping it—is not possible. This book asks why that might be true and what it means if it is. The implications of these questions will ultimately affect everyone alive and every generation that follows us.”
“Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it.”—Derek Sivers”
Energy Vampires are everywhere, and they can be hard to spot because of the short-term benefits we might gain from these people, platforms or tools. Energy Vampires drain our energy, they bring low vibration, and transmit toxicity. We encounter energy vampires daily through interactions with friends, family members, social media, online platforms and various time wasters. American Writer and political activist Upton Sinclair famously said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” We stay in toxic and energy-draining relationships because of fear of the unknown, co-dependency, emotional enmeshment, and lack of self-awareness, among other factors.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair
This is not a drill, you’ve got only one shot to figure out this lifetime and spending it with energy vampires will always drive you away from your purpose. Our job here is to discover our purpose, and anything that does not align with that needs to be released. In the course of your day, you will come across various people with energy-draining tendencies, such as time wasters, energy vampires, naysayers, drama queens, chaos kings, entitled princes, delusional princesses and a host of others. The key to navigating the roller coaster of dealing with these people is to confirm who you are dealing with and protect yourself with boundaries after confirming the kind of beast you are dealing with. Dealing with this kind of people can be extremely tough, especially when they are close friends or family members, but you need to release them.
Greek lyric poet Archilochus once said, “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.” We don’t rise to the level of our wishes and dreams; we fall to the level of our commitment to achieving our dreams and goals. Sports is a great analogy for the power of preparation and training. Running a full (42.2 KM) marathon is somewhat tough have done a couple of them. I ran nine in 2023 and six in 2022. It is tough, but the level of follow-through is somewhat directly connected to your level of training. One’s eventual finish time is determined, among other factors, by the pace at which you run and the pace you run is based on your level of training before the race. As the marathon pace chart below shows, running a 3-hour marathon requires running at a pace of 6:52 for a mile. Hence, your finish time in any marathon can be pre-determined; you have to maintain that pace for the duration of the run.
‘Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.’ – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Believing in oneself, especially when one’s back seems to be against the wall and things are going the way you plan, is one of the most important skills for getting things done. It is easy to be upbeat when everything seems to go your way. The real test comes when the chips are down, the tides seem to be against you, and whatever can go wrong is going wrong simultaneously. Believing in yourself in these critical times is a testament to one’s true character. It is tough to keep pushing during this trying time, but you must keep believing. Never say never; keep showing up daily, putting your best foot forward, and you will crack the code eventually. “Good better best never let it rest until good is better and better is best.”
In the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, the lead character, played by Tom Hank, said, “Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, twists and turns, peaks and valleys. You are either leaving, entering, or going through a storm. Life is a daily exercise in trying to figure it out. It is easy to stay calm during great moments in life; the real test is where one stands during the turbulent vicissitudes of life.
No one will doubt you more than you doubt yourself. People and your environment will try to make you forget your greatness and magnificence; don’t fall for it. Self-doubt is an emotion we all have to deal with at some point, especially when we are stretching beyond our reach, moving out of our comfort zone, or attempting to do the extraordinary. As American industrialist and automobile pioneer Henry Ford once quipped, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can‘t–you’re right.’ Self-doubt cripples a lot of dreams as one needs the self-confidence and assurance to push through the inevitable tough times and winter period on your path to achieving greatness. It will get extremely tough, but that is what the path less travelled entails. There is a reason most people opt for the path of least resistance, especially when self-doubt pops up when you are in debt, relational crisis right, left and center, anxiety, worry, and the vicissitudes of life don’t cease.
In his inspiring book, The Wealth Money Can’t Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life, Canadian author Robin Sharma describes a framework he termed “The PENAM Principle,” which is at the core of how we become who we are. PENAM is an acronym for the five forces that form our core beliefs, basic behaviours, daily habits, and the way we view the world. The five forces are our parents, environment, nation, association, and media.
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. – Proverbs 22:29
The Fast Company March/April 2024 edition listed the 100 Most Innovative Companies of 2024, and the American fast food restaurant chain was listed number one. At the helm of Taco Bell’s ascendance is 53-year-old Sean Tresvant, who joined the company in 2021 as its chief brand officer after 16 years at Nike, most recently as CMO of the Jordan Brand. He was formerly Taco Bell’s Global Chief Brand and Strategy Officer until he was promoted to Taco Bell Division CEO in June 2023. In his fast company interview, he shared a great insight on the power of having a great work ethic and always showing up because you never know who is watching.
In Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out, Entrepreneur Marc Ecko shares a blueprint for finding one’s authentic voice and the courage to defy conventional thinking. Marc writes about his numerous mistakes, triumphs and lessons learned on his path to building the urban fashion brand Eckō Unltd. and complex media.
In Knockout Entrepreneur, two-time world heavyweight champion and entrepreneur George Foreman shares the principles that led to his extraordinary success in the ring and in business. He won his first world heavyweight title in 1973 by defeating then-undefeated Joe Frazier. When he returned to the ring in 1994, he became the oldest heavyweight champion in history at age 46 and 169 days old. As an entrepreneur, Foreman is famous for promoting the George Foreman Grill, which has sold more than 100 million worldwide.
