Your Status Quo
“The riskiest thing we can do is maintain the status quo” ― Bob Iger
A two-year study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that by 2030, intelligent agents and robots could eliminate as much as 30 percent of the world’s human labor. That is an estimated 800 million jobs done better, faster, and more precisely by robots in the place of humans.
The fear that machines will replace human labor has been an existential fear dating back to the Luddites in the early 19th century. Regardless of whether you believe the end of humans in jobs is a groundless fear or is a real threat, there is one undeniable fact: The rate of change in how our world works and how to earn a decent living is rapidly changing and will deeply impact each of us and our families in our lifetime.
This begs the question: If the world is changing, and if you do not change, what does the rest of your lifetime look like for you? If you maintain your status quo, what is the trajectory of your life?
I faced such a question as I was at the supposed peak of my career at age 25, sitting in my own office, at the largest and most successful hedge fund in the world. I looked around for role models, and I asked myself: If I continue on this trajectory, if I live life the same way I am living now, who will I become ten years from now? What will the end of my life look like?
Most 25-year-olds don’t think this way. We feel limitless and hopeful at age 25, and we think and dream that anything is possible. However, I had recently come across a quotation that had me thinking about this deeply:
“What is the definition of Hell? On your last day on Earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”
That quotation struck me, not because I felt scared by it. I don’t feel scared by the changing world, I don’t feel scared by robots, or some existential threat, and I don’t bring this up in this chapter to scare you, either.
It struck me because it made me stop, pause, and wonder. It made me wonder: What am I capable of?
What’s the absolute BEST version of myself that I can become?
In my wildest dreams, with my most earnest effort, with focus, discipline, and belief, what am I capable of becoming?
What impact am I capable of having on this world?
What would that mean for me and my family?
And, most importantly: Am I living my life and spending my days on a trajectory that sets me up to achieve that greatness?