Notes from My Journal:
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
Henry David Thoreau
I’ve been complaining about how busy I’ve been.
“Just stop doing it,” K tells me.
“But I like it,” I say.
“Then stop complaining!”
Writing this now, I’m wondering when my work life shifted into fast-forward. It feels like it began just a few weeks ago – but when I check my calendar, I can see that it’s been speeding up steadily since the beginning of the year. (I am absolutely OCD about writing down my must-dos and following up on them. I can tell you exactly what I’ve been doing at work on a daily basis, and in 15-minute increments, for at least 25 years.)
What happened was, in retrospect, very simple.
I began staying late in my office on Wednesday and Friday evenings – partly to get more work done, but also to make myself more available to my colleagues, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances that might want to stop by for a drink, a cigar, and a conversation.
Then I got the bright idea of asking Frank, the Cigar Club’s official bartender, to be there regularly on Fridays and often on Wednesdays, too. As a result, I’ve been lucky to get out of here before midnight.
I’m not complaining. I’m simply letting you know one of the reasons why I’ve been getting this blog post out only once a week. Spending more time having conversations on Wednesday and Friday evenings means getting excited about all sorts of new projects – which sometimes (often) means making commitments I don’t have time to keep.
One of them is about AI. Several of the Cigar Club regulars are young, super-smart digital entrepreneurs, and they’ve been talking more and more about how fast AI is developing. I can see it from my own perspective since I’m involved in digital publishing. They are closer to much of what’s going on because they are in the industry, but they are all saying what I’ve been saying in the pieces I’ve been writing about AI: Five years from now, the world we are living in will be almost entirely replaced by an AI superstructure. And a shockingly large part of that is going to happen in the next two years.
So tonight, I’ve got about 20 people coming to the gallery above the Cigar Club to talk about what is going to change in the coming year, what business and/or investment opportunities will arise from that, and ideas for how we can help one another ensure that we are all on the right side of that wave. (I’ve got my own idea: a digital club whose initial purpose is to stay close to everything that is happening so that we will be able to take advantage of any good, safe opportunities that pop up.)
There are several more things that have been keeping me busy – all very exciting, but moving so quickly that the window of opportunity to get hold of them will be shutting very soon. That means more brainstorming, more plans, more product ideas, and probably more commitments.
I’m not complaining…
