I CONSIDER myself to be a blessed generation. When technology was swiftly changing things, it happened in my sight. I found the typewriter still in use; the secretaries would brag about the number of words they could type in a minute. While that was a big thing, the desktop computer came on board and overtook the typewriter.When the internet became famous, it all happened in my sight. That came with the email frenzy. Yahoo Mail dominated, and then came .Musically, during my school days, we played music from a vinyl. In Zimbabwe, that was commonly called a “record”. Records were a big thing. Then came cassettes. After cassettes, we got into CDs.For data storage, I used to love my diskette, where I stored my CV only and it was full. It was then overtaken by the memory stick, and the first one I owned was 150 megabytes. It was a treasure.During our school days, having a landline phone was, indeed, a treasure until the mobile phone came onto the stage. I still remember the Nokia 3310 was a big deal. Then came the QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry phone. Personally, I was in love with Motorola mobile phones. While we were on that, smartphones came to the foreground. The keyboard was no longer physical, but it was on a touchscreen.For some people, if I tell them that for social media, MySpace could have become a big thing, they won’t believe me. Up to now, I still believe that MySpace was just unfortunate, it was supposed to be bigger than Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Twitter, YouTube and Facebook happened in my face.I consider myself lucky to have been born when so much change happened. What are the lessons? What are the implications? We need to adapt very fast.Update mental modelsThe best skill you can have now is the ability and the agility to learn fast.In this generation, we have been taught that it’s never enough to memorise and master specific content, but you must be able to discard what you memorised to replace it with new realities. Pick new skills for navigating ambiguities.Learning agilityThe best way to stay ahead of the game is your ability to learn faster. Secondly, it’s your ability to sift through all the noise and learn the right and relevant things. Learning nowadays is not about grades at school, because the same subjects you learnt in the past might not be useful at all. Learning helps you adapt fasterPrinciples never change, tools doThis life is guided by principles. Wisdom is the ability to master principles; an ability not to violate them. The principles that guide the functionality of the latest cars are not different from the ones used in the 1940s. What changes are the technologies in a car: speed, efficiency, agility and comfort.Set your sailThe direction of the wind determines how you set the sail. Use the wind to your advantage by adjusting accordingly. Change brings with it a number of opportunities. The ability to see opportunity in adversity or change is what gives you a competitive advantage.Think fast, and act as suchYou don’t need to wait for the storm to stop and then start thinking and acting. Learn to think in the storm. That requires you to learn to be calm when there is a storm. In the noise of that storm, quickly pick lessons. Hone a skill; how to ride the wave instead of drowning in it.When everyone is complaining and walking away from the storm, bump in and develop strong muscles in the pains of that storm.Fail fast, and learn fasterLearn to see failure as feedback, not falling down. We learn from failing. We grow through failure. Remember, it is in tough and rough times when we develop muscle. Pain polishes purpose.Voices vs viewsBe open to learning. Be willing to listen. Be a master at harvesting ideas and thoughts from other people. “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists,” once said the late American philosopher and social critic Eric Hoffer, who authored 10 books over his career and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983.There are noises that will tell you that you won’t make it. They criticise just for the sake of it. People who are in the news make things happen, while others watch and just talk as things happen.There are many voices and it’s in your wisdom to sift and choose what to listen to. At times, the worst voice is the inner voice.
