If you have been watching the G7 conference you probably have seen the falling out between US President Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. While I am a technology futurist and a business speaker, I seldom get involved in politics or even comment on it. This however is analysis and the impact of how globally political disagreements are shaping the destiny of ordinary people like you and me.
An average person dreams about just a few things. Happy family, more money, retirement, good friends and good health. If this is not what you think usually, you should. Our countries, regions, and political outfits that govern who we dictate how we live, where we go and what we end up sometimes take the best of our time and energy.
The G7 summit in Canada was a great opportunity for world leaders to come together and talk about things that are shaping the world. Be it a nuclear instability, world peace or helping kids go to school in countries where stability is a joke. Believe it or not, as an industry commentator, I look at various geopolitical forces that shape business decisions and help economies grow. Be it in the Middle East, Europe, Asia or back at home in North America. The way politicians make decisions affect how your tomorrow will be.
While you and I can do very little about what actually happens at the G7 summit or events such as those, we can take over what we control, and shape our tomorrow based on what we think is the best way to move forward for us. The G7 was a catalyst in helping me think more deeply about how the world outside our control derails our life throwing it out of control.
Here are some common thoughts that can help you gain control of your life back, political fiasco or not.
1. Focus on Your Life — Take an inventory of all the things you need to do to be where you want to be. Identify your loopholes and gaps. Be real and be honest with yourself.
2. Stop living your life based on news — The news is happing all around us, it just is a matter of someone’s opinion what is important. Don’t live your life based on news, take in only what you need, what matters and what really matters. This does not mean political situations are not important. They definitely are and yet you need to choose your battles when you can.
3. Ignore time wasters — Jobs, people, friends, neighbors, anyone who is wasting your time is probably not doing it intentionally. The problem is that your priorities are not straight. Take an inventory to where you are spending your time and who are the people with who you are spending the maximum time. You are practically the average of them all. Like it, keep it. Don’t like it, lose em.
4. Mind your time on media — Social or any media is a drain on time. Time is more precious than Unicorn blood. Wasting time is wasting your life. I don’t know how to make it clearer.
5. Live in the Present — have you ever lived in the present? Forget everything about the future and yesterday, living in the present moment can enhance the quality of your life. People, media and the news waste our time and stop us from living a meaningful life.
6. Be Intentional & Meaningful — When was the last time you did a mindful exercise of figuring out where your life was headed? Have you prioritized your goals, dreams, and realities? It’s time to do that or you may just be one more of us wandering in the maze looking for the next piece of cheese.
7. Don’t be afraid to Dream — If you have a dream and also have the courage to relentlessly pursue it, then you will make it reality. If you are affected by all the points above then it’s fruitless to dream because it may never happen. You must believe in yourself to the extent of holding yourself accountable for creating change. Do it !
There are many reasons for failure, some of which could be in the list above. You however only need one reason, one dream, and one goal to power yourself up and succeed. You have what it takes to succeed, and it’s just a matter of finding the resources to help you get there. Are you ready for a 2 week challenge to follow #1 to #7 and share your results?
In this short article series you will learn about a single idea or a thought that will help you make a change, create value or improve something significantly.
The EPPC+E Methodology came as a result of fruitless thinking about how value can be created. To do this you really need to understand what value creation is. We are not talking about value creation as it is taught at the Harvard MBA but a simplistic definition that the common person can understand and use. Value Creation is the idea and process through which some form of improvement is made. This change is mostly understood to be a positive change.
The EPPC+E Methodology has 4 core components
E – Evaluate – Take a look at what you need to change. maybe its a business plan, an approach or a strategy. Evaluate it again from grounds up and look at it not only from a pro an con view but send it through various filters such as financial, analytical, emotional or other as applicable. Sometimes we miss a major aspect that may come to light when you re-evaluate.
P – Plan – You have got to have a plan. Not to repeat this a billionth time but if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Planning like more important than ever because it helps you identify the best way to succeed, identify what can go wrong and be prepared accordingly. Sometimes when you succeed, you do not know what the next step is. Planning both success and failure will help.
P – Prove – Once you have moved past the planning stage and want to forge ahead, I would highly recommend starting small and proving the idea, thought or plan at a smaller scale rather that going all out. Agility is the ability to make changes faster and incorporate them on the go as you improve. A small start will help you be more agile and lower your risk. How slow you should go depends on what your timelines are from your planning stage. Once you master what you have undertaken, you can increase the amount of effort and accordingly the results.
C– Create – The is the bigger effort once you have proven the idea at a smaller scale. Once at the creation stage, make sure that you are tapping back into your Plan to evaluate risks, potential improvements, opportunities and threats. A number of models are available to do this include the simple SWOT analysis.Try to use a process framework for success as processes are proven methodologies to have the best chance of succeeding. These could be Agile, Kanban, PMI, and many other simple as well as complex frameworks. Track your results like crazy and make improvements as you go along.
E – Execution – A every stage Execution is key. It is not the perfection of the execution, but the consistency of the execution that will matter most.
Apply the EPPC+E framework thinking to your next goal, task or idea and see how it pans out. Also build a habit of being consistent in your approach and as a simple framework EPPC+E will help you just do that.
In this episode we have some great content lined up. I recently attended the B.Con (Branded Content) conference by Strategy in Toronto and met with the leaders of the content industry today. with hundreds of conversations during the show its sometimes hard to remember people but i wanted to send out a special shout out to the ladies at lunch and hope they are listening to this episode.
In today’s episode speak with three influences who in their own way are leading content within their industry.
I first speak to Robert Rose, keynote speaker at the conference abouthis ideology and insights. I then speak with Harry Brisson from Nielsens Media Lab. In the end you will listen to my interview with Katrina Craigwell, Director Global Innovation at GE Digital.
Throughout all these conversations there is one thing that resonated clearly and that is the need of branded content within any industry that you play in. Content today, as every presentation resonated, had moved from being a one off event to being a constantly updating aspect of brands. The example of L’Oreal Canada was just one of the exemplary sessions that spoke about how they have changed the way they generate content though a new revolutionary and agile model.
So without any further ado,lets listen to my conversations at the conference.
You are enjoying this content on Ian Khan's Blog.
Ian Khan, AI Futurist and technology Expert, has been featured on CNN, Fox, BBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fast Company and many other global platforms. Ian is the author of the upcoming AI book "Quick Guide to Prompt Engineering," an explainer to how to get started with GenerativeAI Platforms, including ChatGPT and use them in your business. One of the most prominent Artificial Intelligence and emerging technology educators today, Ian, is on a mission of helping understand how to lead in the era of AI. Khan works with Top Tier organizations, associations, governments, think tanks and private and public sector entities to help with future leadership. Ian also created the Future Readiness Score, a KPI that is used to measure how future-ready your organization is. Subscribe to Ians Top Trends Newsletter Here
