The Best (And Worst) Advice I Can Think Of

If we compare life today, with life even thirty years ago - everything now is just so much easier.

Everything as a service. Software, groceries, razor blades. All available at the tap of a button. No graft - maximum convenience. Drops in your lap.

I sit here in an air conditioned office (unnecessary in September), enjoying high speed Wi-Fi and supping coffee which started life in Columbia.

But you’d better believe I’m going to absolutely kick off if the coffee machine ever breaks and I have to walk a hundred yards down the road to the nearest Pret.

One of the cheery consequences of all this progress is that we now live in a world where, rather than a student spending weeks dutifully researching a 2,000 word essay and pouring her heart and soul into it - she can push a button and churn out something “good enough”. As long as she doesn’t get caught.

Is this a good thing? Probably not. But history tells us there is always moral panic every time a new kind of technology comes onto the scene. These kinds of concerns are no novelty.

And anyway, we always wear rose tinted glasses any time we think about the past.

Today’s students are no better or worse than yesteryears’. Human beings always, by default, look for the path of least resistance and there are just so many more tools available now to those so inclined.

Although progress is in and of itself “a good thing” (how can it not be) - this explosion in new technology creates a kind of challenge for us all, not least for the student who can no longer rely on his smarts to secure a job because intelligence has become a commodity.

In fact, one of the inevitable consequences of AI is that I reckon pretty much everything will become commoditised eventually if it hasn’t already.

We can see these waves of commoditisation in financial services where the products themselves (investment strategies, insurance policies) have long been commoditised.

Perfectly suitable solutions available at knock down prices. Low margins, a volume game for the providers.

At the moment it feels like we are in the second wave, where progress comes for the advice itself. The “machine” now able to give you an answer to pretty much any question you have about your situation.

And when this happens all that is left is the human connection, the authenticity.

Although AI’s competence is startling and growing exponentially, machines still think in patterns. Ever increasing in number and intricacy, like grains in a slab of wood, but patterns nonetheless.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Real human creativity exists outside of these established grooves. In the wacky and the weird.

In a world where everything is commoditised, the bar for human competence moves higher. To differentiate ourselves we need to be capable of magic.

If we were to plot the natural ability of the overall population at any given task the distribution might look a little like this. A normal bell curve, with the extreme outperformers and underperformers on the right and left respectively.

But in a technologically enabled world, the bar of competence naturally shifts higher, and the distribution of abilities might look more like this.

So how do we get to the right hand side? We need to become really, really good at some one thing.

Establishing extreme competence at a given activity has always required many hours of devotion, discipline and probably discomfort. In order to “stand out” professionally in future, it will probably require even more. Sorry about that.

But this being the case, I can think of no better advice to a young person today than to establish a track record of doing difficult things. In whatever field, in any field.

The ability to endure discomfort is surely a muscle that can only be developed by repetitions. Putting in the hours. Those prepared to do this in a world where everything comes so easily will surely stand out more than ever before.

On the other hand, and in the context of the above, I hope you will agree with me when I say that “work on your weaknesses” is some of the absolute worst advice going.

Getting to the right hand side is difficult enough. Why give myself more work to do by trying to get better at something I am, by default, rubbish at?

Becoming “well rounded” involves real, tangible opportunity cost. That energy could be better deployed developing expertise (common) rather than competence (extremely common).

Rather than start at the bottom of the mountain, we should surely start a few floors up based on whatever natural talents we have and focus ruthlessly on making the most of these to the exclusion of almost all else.

Past performance is not indicative of future returns. None of the above is intended to constitute advice to any individual. If you have any specific queries regarding your individual situation, then please consult a regulated financial adviser.