Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Grow into 2024
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Friends,
This will be my last official email of 2023. I might not be able to help myself and send you something interesting - but as far as regular Sunday morning emails go, I’ll see you in 2024. In the meantime, I’ll be figuring out what to share with you for my 50 trends to watch out for in 2024. (here’s 2023 for those of you who want to see what the experts thought this time last year)
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As we step towards 2024, I’d encourage you (as I do every year) to set some personal goals for the year ahead. Resolutions to lose more weight, be more healthy and get richer are simply useless. On the first day of the year, I sit with my family and we work through an exercise to have a retrospective of the year and plan goals for the following year. We also give suggestions to each other. I employ a simple template of what went well, what went well, plans for the year ahead, and hopes for each other. It’s the simplest way to do it and it’s also remarkably rewarding. We also have a giggle at previous years’ goals and etch some great hopes and wins to our head. It helps in manifesting success.
The reason why goals are increasingly important is because of the noise and because of focus. If you focus on the goals that will get you to where you want to be then you’re more likely to get there. I think we live in a world with many distractions, a more technology-driven world, more complicated and increasingly burdensome. This year should have shown that to you. Artificial Intelligence has made the world murky. And while we think of technology in waves, we are right at the beginning of this wave where many companies and industries are simply thinking of a few steps ahead - rather than creating a new north star. So, until we are mid-cycle - until the AI age is more mature, we need to be laser focused on what we want to get done personally, and not let the noise to get to us.
So, I’d recommend you set your goals.
If you need a full system, use the template from Year Compass but I find it a little long and prescriptive. Its probably quite good if you are doing solo. However, I’m a fan of making things work so I would to tailor it for yourself. Or follow Dan Silverstre’s approach. Either way, have your plan.
I do think you need to consider multiple facets of your life as you project forward:
Relationships (family, friendships, romantic relationships, family)
Health (physical and emotional)
Career
Money & Finance
Home
Fun & Leisure
Personal Growth (read Box of Amazing more often!)
And it would make sense that your goals are SMART.
I also think it’s worth thinking about some BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) or Epics. BHAGs are a large-scale goal of great importance that is also bold, somewhat risky, and high-stakes. For example, set a few goals that push you to your limit - be well-known within your industry, do a 30-minute keynote speech to 100 people, climb Kilimanjaro. One of mine for last year was to double this newsletter to 10,000. I’m currently a few short - but I might just get to it. Another that I set myself was to change jobs. That happened.
While I don’t think you should review these goals every month, doing a mid-year accountability check will help you achieve whatever you want to achieve next year.
And so, I wish you happy holidays and wish you much luck in 2024. May you accomplish your goals despite the backdrop of AI craziness.
Thank you for being a subscriber to this newsletter.
Stay Curious - and - for the last time this year - don’t forget to be amazing,
Here are my recommendations for this week:
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AI, and everything else - Every year, Ben Evans produces a big presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. For 2024, ‘AI, and everything else’. Related: 4 Reasons Why AI is Exploding Today and Why the EU AI Act was so hard to pass
Best Apps of the Year: Apple —— Android - Related: Netflix reveals most-watched shows in first half of 2023
Stop Planting Trees, Says Guy Who Inspired World to Plant a Trillion Trees
Ecologist Thomas Crowther’s research inspired countless tree-planting campaigns, greenwashing, and attacks from scientists. Now he’s back with a new plan for nature restoration. Related: What No One at COP28 Wanted to Say Out Loud: Prepare for 1.5 Degrees
Judges Given the OK to Use ChatGPT in Legal Rulings The UK now permits judges to use the “jolly useful” AI chatbot in court.
What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read? - It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?
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Chat with your enterprise databases using secure generative AI and empower business users in your team to do their own data analyses in seconds. Check out Hal9
Human brain-like supercomputer with 228 trillion links coming in 2024 - Australians develop a supercomputer capable of simulating networks at the scale of the human brain.
Year One of Generative AI: Six Key Trends: Just over one year has passed since the release of ChatGPT. In the intervening twelve-odd months, it’s become abundantly clear that generative AI represents a fundamental platform shift. Leaders in the field now regard LLMs as the backbone of a new operating system capable of coordinating a variety of tools and resources to solve complex problems.
Meta’s AI for Ray-Ban smart glasses can identify objects and translate languages: Saying “Hey Meta” while wearing the Ray-Ban smart glasses will summon a virtual assistant who sees and hears what’s happening around you. Also: Apple iPhone Spatial Video Looks Amazing on Vision Pro
Sam Altman on OpenAI, Future Risks and Rewards, and Artificial General Intelligence - candid
This Mind-Reading Cap Can Translate Thoughts to Text Thanks to AI - Wearing an electrode-studded cap bristling with wires, a young man silently reads a sentence in his head. Moments later, a Siri-like voice breaks in, attempting to translate his thoughts into text,
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