TL;DR
Appreciate the journey, and all the now obsolete parts of our life, because if not for them, we would have nothing. Those are the building blocks that form the foundation of our lives.
Lack of Appreciation is a Cheap Shot
I saw a video the other day of kids reacting to Windows 95. Hilarious yes, but the comments in the video hit me in my core. The kids in the video trashing trashing old technology said:
“Windows 95 it’s prehistoric, it really is, its an old dinosaur.”
and another
“As a joke, like I see a lot of things on the internet thats like haha windows 95 sucks.”
and even another
“wow, the dreaded Internet Explorer… I can only assume it’s worse than we think it is, now.”
Brutal.
Yes, yes, youngins. The jokes are hilarious, but I have words for you.
YOU WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT US! Have some appreciation for the past. Without it, you wouldn’t have your advanced versions today, because truth be told, innovation has slowed down.
We Don’t Innovate. We Iterate.
Think about the last time there was real innovation. I don’t mean iteration. I mean, real innovation. Something that fundamentally changed the world.
The personal computer. The internet. Aside from that, not much that has yet influenced society as we know it. Maybe smart phones, I guess, but they are really just an iteration of communication devices and more portable computers. I’ll give you that one.
I mean innovation as in new, like printing press or cotton gin new. New like as in the automobile new.
Our society is mostly about the next version, which don’t get me wrong, is totally fine. We build off what we have and keep improving it.
But you must appreciate the foundation.
Version 1 is the foundation for every Iteration
Version one is never meant to be the most ideal. It’s meant to be a building block for whats to come after. Without windows 95, we wouldn’t have computing we have today. Without the first automobile, we couldn’t have Tesla. Without Moses, you wouldn’t have Rabbi Akiva (Menachot 29b… feel free to explore more here or just ask me).
Mark Rober in one of his videos talked about the engineering design process and made a comment that hit so hard to this exact topic. He was talking about iterations and why they are so important. He said “often time, people want to jump to step 4 which usually won’t work, but it’s almost worse if it does, because you have no confidence that you are close to the optimal design.”
This holds true for everything, certainly everything I have ever done in my life and in my career. And I reflect on it often.
My Foundation & Building Blocks
I owe everything to the experiences that helped me set my foundation. To these baby steps that allowed me the opportunity to run and explore. And I am so appreciative of all those blocks.
- I owe my career to that first job I took as a 6 month contractor in social media marketing, which got my foot in the door to join, Resolution Media, and gave me the confidence to explore the industry and own my career.
- And to Elisabeth who put me on her panel at my first conference, which set off a chain reaction of writing and speaking globally. Which by the way, in many ways gave me the unrealistic confidence to move across the world because I felt like I could for sure make it.
- I owe my dog to the prank war with my friend when she jokingly gave us a pug and made us realize we wanted a dog. And then to the dog we rescued but later bit a kid and we ultimately gave away. If not for him, I wouldn’t have found an interest and passion in training. Of course, I can’t leave out the Labradors I grew up with which made me love dogs in the first place. Those are fundamental blocks that I built everything off of.
Appreciate the Journey, Love the Detours
The essence of everything is “what can I learn from this experience”. That’s how I decide to do anything. If I can’t learn something, then it’s a hard no. If this doesn’t take me down a path that I can see the next steps, then it’s not for me.
Easy money, and get rich quick schemes don’t work. They might, but if they do, who can say how much you lost along the way. Have you untapped all the potential. I recall Simon Sinek talking about this when we tells the story of the wright brothers and their competition.
Humble beginnings are more than ok. They are rewarding. Starting at the bottom isn’t a punishment. It’s an opportunity to build a solid foundation, and then go from there.
Literally, life.