Picture this.
Thousands of red and blue crates moving in neat lines like busy (but well-behaved) ants.
Orders pouring in from all corners of the city get automatically checked out of the warehouse and are loaded into trucks that follow traffic algorithms to reach the destination.
This is not hyperbole or science fiction. The Ocado supermarket in Britain has taken automation to the next level.
And added fuel to the already heated debate – Are we going to get taken over by robots?
The Future Is Now
Robots have graduated from usurping the place of humans on factory floors to ousting homo sapiens from white collar jobs like those of bank tellers, writers and statisticians.
Oxford University has spoken. Over the next 20 years 47% of US workers will have their livelihood taken over by automation.
This leaves us with the question – What’s next?
You Have Something The Robots Don’t: Creativity
Computers have always been a benchmark of “intelligence” in our society. But ironically enough, they are quite dumb.
Computers and “robots” derive their intelligence from human fed code. In most cases, they do not have the discernment and critical thinking power to make sense of situations that haven’t been pre-defined for them.
The magic of computers thus lies in their efficiency.
Once they understand how to execute an operation, they can do so exponentially faster than humans, giving a false impression of true intelligence.
I know what you’re thinking. Machine Learning is here, right?
Yes, machine learning sounds threatening. A computer that learns from experience, very much like a human and does so at a level that is well beyond the capacity of you, me or anyone reading this blog.
( — If you’re an AI bot, please don’t take offense 😉 —)
But you possess something the robots don’t.
And that is intuition – the art of dealing with the intangible. Humans have been planning, course correcting, estimating, hypothesizing and making sense of incomplete data for a very long time!
The best part? Thankfully humans can’t replicate what makes them human.
Using GTD® To Operate in the Flow State and Tap into Your Creativity
A robot take-over is imminent.
Anything that is repetitive, error-prone and doesn’t involve high-level decision making will go to your next door friendly bot.
If that sounds like your job – maybe it is time to consider a career switch.
But if you’re an individual who knows how to execute complex projects, work with uncertainties, get the complete picture from unconnected dots and be appropriately engaged with each and every task, you’ll find yourself at the top of the pile directing bots to do the grunt work.
Getting Things Done® is amazingly effective at unchaining and unleashing all the attributes that make you uniquely human and making the bots seem like tin cans in comparison.
GTD® is not just about getting things done. It’s about operating in a state of flow so that you can maximize your creative energies.
Through its 5 step process you:
Capture information from multiple streams to step out of the place of information overwhelm and close the loops that keep others eternally distracted.
Clarify Next Actions from amorphous masses of data. This practice of discernment uses executive functions that are the sole domain of human and done right eliminates procrastination for good.
Organize tasks by context. Context is the key to efficiency. With Getting Things Done® you not only “do” more, but you also do the right things, at the right time.
Reflect on progress made and chart a course for the path ahead. This is by far the most valuable habit GTD® cultivates in a knowledge worker.
Engage and execute. You not only talk the talk, GTD® equips you to walk the walk of getting tasks done – without stress, panic or anxiety.
All in all your mind is clear enough to do what it does best – give birth to ideas and imagine the future.
Robots, are you listening?
I believe our work should be an expression of our most creative selves. I work with business owners and their teams to achieve stress-free productivity.