How I tried to UNLEARN and found one easy hack

High value work is being done by people outside the employment contract. Humans and robots are fighting (literally) shoulder to shoulder. We have to change our mental models, assumptions and definitions to reflect the external reality in our inner world.

A Zen master began to pour tea into a disciple’s cup, continuing even as it overflowed. The disciple watched the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself. “It’s overfull! No more will go in!” he blurted, to which the master replied, “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. To learn something new, you must first empty your cup.”

Unlearning is so hard.

My unlearning journey began with ulcers - not my ulcers!

Which of these is the leading cause of stomach ulcers? Take the poll.

1. Stress
2. Spicy food
3. Coffee
4. All of the above

At different times in my life I believed that stress, spicy food, coffee etc caused ulcers. And then I read about this Australian doctor who killed himself to help his peers unlearn what they had always believed. He had found that Helicobacter Pylori caused ulcers. There was only one problem. No one believed him when Dr Barry Marshall presented his work at the annual meeting of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Perth. To gastroenterologists, the concept of a germ causing ulcers was like saying that the Earth is flat. He changed the definition of the disease.

Dr Barry Marshall in sheer frustration infected himself with the bacteria and then got a colleague to treat him just in time. He showed that a bacteria caused ulcers. In 2005 his colleague Robin Warren and Barry were given the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Work is getting redefined

In 2024 during the Olympics, Break Dancing will be a new sport that could get someone a Gold Medal. BMX Cycling and Trampoline are Olympic sports. How will the medals be decided? Judges will score them in six categories : creativity, performance, personality, technique, variety, and musicality. From 1973 when it began, it has taken Breakdancing five decades to move from the fringes to the main stage. Even then there are some creases in our mind that need to be ironed out. If I met two gold medallists - one on Break Dancing and one in a sport (say gymnastics or judo) in my mind I would be in awe of the gymnast or judoka and not the break dancer. Getting rid of a bias is also a part of unlearning.

Read more How Breaking Went From a Street Dance to an Olympic Sport | Smithsonian ( smithsonianmag.com )

Intangible elements like brand & Intellectual Property will create competitive advantage

Apple?has achieved truly exceptional brand value growth this year, with its brand value increasing by USD219 billion in a single year to USD516.6 billion. This year’s growth is approximately equal to the total value of?Starbucks’s, Mercedes-Benz’s, Tesla’s, and?Porsche’s?brands combined, according to Brand Directory . What that means is that Apple's brand value is more than half a TRILLION.

The value of a personal brand is no less dramatic. When Sam Altman left, much of the talent pool at OpenAI wanted to walk out with him. The valuation of OpenAI is entirely driven by the intangible power of the talent pool.

Making YouTube videos to become a billionaire?

The only billionaire at age 26 who did not inherit is wealth built it by making philanthropic YouTube stunt videos. Mr Beast is one of the highest-paid YouTubers on the planet. His deal with Amazon is rumored to be worth as much as $100 million — to host a reality competition show with the biggest single prize in TV history ($5 million). One individual is big enough to redefine an industry! That is not the usual career choice you could say.

You get paid just to say, "Oh my God, Buy It!"

He once sold 15,000 lipsticks in five minutes and became famous as "Lipstick King". He describes his work as "livestreamer and shopping influencer" on TaoBao the Chinese version of Amazon. He sold $1.7 billion worth of goods in 12 hours. That is often more than what hundreds or even thousands of people work for a year in many organizations to reach a fraction of that. That is a new definition of work. One influencer can sell more than an army of employees trained in sales.<read this >

The term - "employee" & employment getting redefined

Employees were those inside the organization. But now work gets done with many different contracts of employment. Full time, part-time, job sharing, contact worker, casual worker, gig worker, outsourced worker, "fractional CXO"... the options are many.

Work is not just what humans do. From education, deep sea exploration to healthcare, humans are working with AI redefine work. Humans bring in animals, machines, robots and algorithm to create. 强生公司 uses AI for diagnosis and detection of rare diseases. By applying AI to data derived from or generated by common diagnostic tests, such as electrocardiograms and echocardiograms, providers can diagnose diseases more accurately, prevent delays in care and potentially save lives.

There are three kinds of work:

1. Work done by algorithms and machines - eg automated trading
2. Work done by humans augmented by AI and machines - eg doctors using AI to diagnose disease (like J&J is doing)
3. Work done by AI that no longer needs to be done by humans - eg use of AI to take notes (available in most software programs). The army now has to compete with a different kind of army - the robots. Will this mean more wars or fewer?

AI is now formally part of the workforce: Toys “R” Us has released a video ad, created almost entirely by generative artificial intelligence. It was made using Sora, an OpenAI tool that converts text to video. That means a one-person agency could compete with the world's largest ad agency. AI is the superpower that makes anyone invincible.

Watch the ad

The death of the office (mostly)

In the early days of the pandemic, people were taking fake commutes. They would dress up, take a walk and then start work. Commutes provide boundaries that signal the start or end of a workday. It is "me time" for many and people missed their "commuting family".

The workday is also not standardized

1. In France: The working week is 35 hours in all types of companies. The working day may not exceed 10 hours. Every 4.5 hours, a break is a must.
2. In USA: Any work over 40 hours in a 168 hour period is counted as overtime. ?The average work week is for eight hours per day for five days a week.
3. In Singapore: The work week is for an 8 hour day, or 44 hours per week.

The hybrid work culture comes with its challenges

When so many things become difficult, it means we need to change the definitions of what work means. Unlearning begins when you change your views, mind maps and assumptions.

How long we need to work if life spans extend to a 100 year life span. Does it still mean that people have to "retire" at a certain age? If skills become obsolete in 2-3 years, is it time to rethink how we skill people? If jobs do not need a degree, does that mean that we need to change how people are taught?

Denmark is charging farmers a $100 ‘burp tax’ per cow to account for their carbon footprint.

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