The Two Most Important Skills, If You Want to Thrive in the 21st Century

How to prepare for a future that cannot be predicted

A little over twenty-five years ago, Jeff Bezos saw a trend. The internet was growing in usage at an incredible rate (like “bacteria in a Petri dish,” he says). He realized it was set to change the world forever. Bezos didn’t want to be left out of the action. He quit his job and founded Amazon. Today he is worth almost $200 billion.

Around the same time, Elon Musk was pursuing his Ph.D. when he had a similar realization. He dropped out and founded his first company, Zip2. Today he is worth almost $100 billion.

Of course, not everyone can replicate their successes, but the point is —

Future generously rewards those who can foresee it and act accordingly.

At the same time, the unfortunate reality is, most of us are so in love with the status quo that we cringe at the possibility of the future being any different. Instead of preparing for it (or inventing it), we continue to live in denial. The disaster caused by the current pandemic is, in part, a result of such denial.

But how do we know what to expect from the future, you might ask? Not everyone has the time, insight, or resources to come up with answers to such questions. The good thing is — you don’t have to.

If you are attentive to what the smart people around the world are saying and doing, your task becomes much easier. It will give you a curated collection of some of the most powerful ideas. All you need to do is use your critical thinking to decide which of those ideas make the most sense to you.

The Man Who Wrote “A Brief History of Tomorrow”

Yuval Noah Harari, the author of the bestsellers, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, is among the most prominent thinkers of our time.

As a historian and philosopher who has devoted a lot of time thinking about the journey of the human race through time and the role of technology in it, he builds on his understanding of the past to create a model of the future. Having read two of his books (those mentioned above), I can tell you the eloquence with which he expresses himself is rare even among bestselling authors.

Recently I watched two videos of him speaking with Tom Bilyeu of Impact Theory and Mark Zuckerberg, in which he offered some powerful insights into what kind of future we are creating for ourselves and how to prepare for it. In their fascinating conversations, there were a couple of points I found particularly noteworthy.

A World Without Equilibrium

Creators on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or even Medium often complain about the algorithm changing significantly every year or two. I can feel their pain.

It takes time and effort, a ton of it, to learn the rules of the game and develop a winning strategy. Only to find that the rules have changed. But then they don’t own the rules. The only options they have are to adapt or be forced out of the game.

In the future, as Harari sees it, we will all find ourselves in similar situations. He says most people have this misplaced belief that AI will cause a huge one-time disruption, following which the world will achieve equilibrium. When the more likely scenario is, there will be no equilibrium — at least for many decades to come.

As technology continues to grow in power and influence at an accelerating pace, we will find ourselves caught in a “cascade of ever bigger revolutions.”

Simply put, our knowledge, skills, and plans will have very short shelf-lives. Just to keep up with the changing times, we will have to reinvent ourselves, again and again.

Skill #1 — Adaptability

So it’s not surprising that Harari believes adaptability will be a critical skill to have if we want to thrive (or even survive) in the coming decades. But adaptability can have a broad meaning. So let me focus on its two most essential aspects — those that matter the most in the context of our future.

The mental strength and the right attitude towards change — Change is not easy. It can often be uncomfortable and disorienting. And as Harari points out, it becomes even more difficult to reinvent yourself — to let go of so much you have learned and to leave behind a part of an identity you have created for yourself — as you grow older.

Continuous adaptation will require extraordinary mental strength.

• So train yourself to be okay with some discomfort (or even pain), uncertainty, and chaos. Get used to the idea of fluid identity. Learn to anticipate change and to embrace it.
• Better still, you can choose to drive change. To invent the future.

The mindset and skills of a life-long learner—In a wonderful essay written several years ago, computer scientist and co-founder of Y Combinator, Paul Graham wrote —

“When experts are wrong, it’s often because they’re experts on an earlier version of the world.”

But staying up to date with the current version won’t be easy with new versions coming at you faster than ever before. There are a few things, though, that can help greatly.

• First, have the humility to accept that being right until recently doesn’t mean you are right today. Or that what worked for you yesterday may not work today.
• Then develop your curiosity. Be committed to the idea of continuous learning and improvement. Also, to become an efficient and effective learner, master the art of learning itself.

When Humans Get Hacked

Apple Watches and Teslas are already saving lives with the help of their AI-driven systems. That’s how far science and technology have come.

Plus, with significant improvements being made every year, it might not be long before we do things that can only be termed magical or miraculous today. Which is great — maybe we would eliminate deadly diseases altogether!

But while Harari acknowledges the hope that technology gives us, he also talks about potential threats. He says we have reached a point where our devices and the companies behind them know a lot more about us — from what we do to what’s going on within our bodies at the bio-chemical level — than we do about ourselves.

This has consequences for our privacy, of course. But more importantly, these enormous amounts of personal data, unprecedented levels of computing power, and their control over the content we consume give companies the power to shape almost everything about us — our whole identity. As well as the power to replace us (but we have already covered that).

Giant corporations can sell us anything — ideas, beliefs, products, or politicians. If the problems with that aren’t obvious, consider this.

Widespread happiness, satisfaction, and enlightenment are not great for the consumer culture or the brand of politics we are all so familiar with.

Hence the billions of dollars spent on all forms of propaganda (including advertising) to keep us excited. Agitated. Restless. No wonder both depression and anxiety are on the rise in the US and many other parts of the world.

With more advancements, these attempts will only increase both in scale and scope. Besides, as we slide deeper into the hole, it will be even more difficult to realize we are under such spells or to snap out of them.

Skill #2 — Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

Harari says the answer to this challenge lies in greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

He spends two months every year meditating. That doesn’t mean you have to do that too. Harari is a thinker, philosopher, and author (besides being a historian). Those two months make a lot more sense for him than they would for us.

But there are certain things you can and must do.

• What makes the human mind unique is meta-cognition — its ability to study and understand itself. So use that superpower and learn about human psychology, especially the cognitive biases and traps that cause us to act against our own interests.
• Work on your emotional intelligence. Cultivate greater awareness of the nature and origins of your emotions and learn how best to respond to them.
• Sit quietly with yourself and reflect on your thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. Try to resolve the internal conflicts or at least to be comfortable with them. Work to gain mental clarity so you can hear and trust your inner voice in the midst of the deafening surrounding noise.

In a Nutshell

Our species of hunter-gatherers has come a long way. We continue to change not only the face of the planet but even of outer space. The question is — how long can we continue to change everything without making it necessary to change ourselves in profound ways? Not much longer, it seems.

That’s why, when it comes to preparing for the future, Harari emphasizes mastering our own selves more than anything else. When you cannot be sure of what the future will bring, the best you can do is ready yourself for anything and everything.

How do you do that? By mastering two skills above all —

1. adaptability
2. self-awareness and emotional intelligence.