A currency for the new world

·4 min read

Lately I'm thinking more and more about what happens when all of our knowledge tasks go in the background, automated away. What's left? To answer this question, we first need to look at how most knowledge work is executed:

  • there is some intent or some goal to be achieved
  • a mechanism to execute that exists, or is being created
  • the work is being executed
  • results are being measured
  • intent and goal are re-assessed and the loop continues

As the abstraction layers evolve, taking us from declarative to imperative work, in the short-to-mid-term, we will likely be able to significantly automate all but the first step. If we define a human worker's relevancy as an inverse to automation opportunity, we can then say that it is important for us, as humans, to understand how to be decisive about intents and goals.

That's where the opportunity for greatness lies in this era.

How do you craft great goals and communicate intent?

This is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind. I've been watching closely how the most successful people I know do that. Similarly, I've been observing when people cannot do that with clarity, or when results fall short in the end. Although it is hard to grasp what exactly goes wrong, I truly believe it's a matter of focus.

The modern human has been willingly robbed of their ability to focus for extended amounts of time. Through short-form content, reels, stories, instagram pictures, or action-packed YouTube videos, we have slowly given away our ability to expand our focus beyond fragments of seconds. In turn, this makes us poor communicators, reduces our reasoning abilities, and thus makes it very difficult to set goals and solidify intent. I feel this is true for me and it may ring true for many others.

I've been trying to get some of the focus back. I'm going to share 3 very easy tips that I found make a difference in my day to day work.

  1. Acknowledge that this happens to you. Don't fight it with "Oh, I only spend limited amount of time consuming dopamine-inducing content". I personally accepted that the focus heist happens to me and I am the one responsible of noticing it. Just because I'm saying I see it more clearly, it doesn't mean that it's easy to avoid it. It's a daily struggle. Being aware puts it in my control more frequently.
  2. Put your phone down. I cannot stress enough how just putting the phone down when I'm not working (messages, emails, etc.) has improved my ability to regain focus. It may be just for 5 or 10 minutes. Doesn't have to be some sort of huge effort. We all have emails, messages, and calls to get to. Just pause for a bit and consciously choose how you resume using it next. Just make that decision yourself. Most of the time we go where our apps and notifications take us. Take control of that.
  3. When in meetings, take your hands off your keyboard. It applies mostly to online meetings, but it can happen with in-person meetings. We have all seen that person that constantly on the phone while everyone speaks. Ever since the pandemic and remote work has taken over, the source of distractions in meetings has spiked beyond what our brains can handle. I now understood why I can comfortably drive conversations and projects. I just happen to listen more in online meetings. Sure I get distracted too. I'm not deluding you and myself. But when everyone is out of focus, even listening for 15 minutes can put yourself far in front of everyone else. I've seen this over and over again. People that are present, listening, and engaging, are the ones getting noticed. Those that join, camera off, without saying anything, it's just like they are not there in the first place.
What does this have to do with automation?

Well I believe the currency of the future we are heading towards will be our focus. There will be an abundance of intelligence, content, and information, with no real limit. To contribute to the systems of the future, you need to be able to clearly express intent and goals. That is only possible with great focus, over long periods of time. If we start struggling now, the future will only get more difficult to manage. I made it now my personal mission to regain control over my focus. It will likely be a long journey with a great ROI.