What Have You Learned Today?

 

The things that end up frustrating us are supposed to teach us something.

 

I read that somewhere.

 

It ended up in my notebook, along with phrases like, find the opportunity in every problem.

 

The obstacle is the way.

 

Don’t say I can’t, ask How can I?

 

It’s the end of a decade in 15 days.

 

I think back to where I was in 2010 and define how I want to go forward in 2020.

 

I was 2 years in at Kaplan University, living the separated life, which meant work 50 hours a week and going home to a townhouse with a futon and my bed, and using my laptop to watch DVD’s from Netflix.

 

It was also the year I started training for a marathon and built a habit that made me happy for many years and thousands of miles.

 

I dropped thirty pounds. Got a promotion. Doubled my income.

 

2010 was a year full of promise, full of possibility.

 

The new decade promised fully automated cars, Mars exploration, a new way of using social networks to connect and grow.

 

Remember the Arab Revolution that was supposed to change the Middle East?

 

I don’t know what happened to all those promises.

 

I think sometimes, advertisers got into the social game and changed it forever.

 

I don’t know if they ruined it- just changed the way we order, buy and see stuff.

 

Blaming Zuckerberg or the other founders of the big sites we use today is like blaming Gutenburg for newspaper ads.

 

But I miss my promised future.

 

I grew up with Star Wars and Star Trek. I got my communicator in my thirties.

 

I expected flying bikes in my 40’s, (Return of the Jedi) My Rosie (iRoomba) and reading for my commute (automated Tesla) by now!

 

Maybe this decade will see the fulfillment of those promises.

 

Taking time to reflect, I see a pattern in the first few years of each decade  (so far). That’s my upward trajectory.

 

Which means going in to 2020, with the books I have done, with the projects I have planned, and the new stuff I’m learning (licensing), these next five years are going to be a wild ride.

 

I hope you hang on tight. We’re going to have a lot of fun.

See What I've Learned