#Design #Mindsets
Designing like it’s 1999 · “Design for where the puck is going.” https://ilo.im/16dbc7

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#Business #Disruptions #Experimentation #Reinvention #Skills #AI #ProductDesign #UxDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign

Beyond the bottom line

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://emerging-europe.com/beyond-the-bottom-line/

🪪⚙️ Todd's Tenth Rule of certificate automation: Any sufficiently complicated SSL certificate script contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of a certificate lifecycle management system.

https://www.certkit.io/blog/todds-tenth-rule-certificate-automation

#reinvention #hubris #law

The brand is not the hero

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://emerging-europe.com/the-brand-is-not-the-hero/

Nobody warns you that retirement can feel like loss before it feels like freedom. If you're struggling with the transition, you're not doing it wrong — you're just in one of the harder phases. Here's a framework that helped me understand where I was, and five practical ways to move through it.

#retirement #retirementplanning #retirementtransition #reinvention #retirementlife #purposeinretirement

https://www.retirereinvented.com/how-to-move-from-lost-in-retirement-to-reinvented/

The AI race is entering a new phase

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://emerging-europe.com/the-ai-race-is-entering-a-new-phase/

"You don't pivot back to who you were. You pivot to who you've become."- Futurist Jim Carroll

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Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, based on 36 lessons from his 36 years as a solo entrepreneur, working as a nomadic worker in the global freelance economy. The series is unfolding here, and at pivot.jimcarroll.com.
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Most failed pivots aren't pivots to the wrong future.

They're pivots to a future that no longer exists.

I've been writing about this idea for years, in one form or another. Back in 2022, I framed it this way: "Confront today as it is, not as you want it to be, but face tomorrow as you want it to be, rather than just accepting it for what it might be!" In another post, I put it more bluntly: "Don't chase the reality you want. Create the reality you can pursue." I've long recognized that when it comes to reinvent yuorself for the next opportunity, you need to adapt to new realities, not existing ones.

Earlier this year, when Mark Carney stood up at Davos and said, "We actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for a world we wish to be," he was saying the same thing. I knew immediately why that line landed globally and drew so much attention. He's repeating this idea everywhere he goes, stating it again pretty clearly at a global summit in Armenia. The dude must be following me. (-;

And yet, it captured something most leaders, most companies, and most individuals quietly refuse to do.

They want to pivot, but only to a future they already imagined.

They want the past to come back, just rearranged.

They want their old career, with a fresh coat of paint.

That's not a pivot.

That's nostalgia in a different outfit.

Here's what I've learned the hard way: the future will not negotiate with your desires and wants. It doesn't care about your plans, your nostalgia, your investment in who you used to be. The future shows up as it is, sometimes brutal, sometimes accelerated, and often inconvenient.

You either align with it, or you don't.

In a fast-evolving future, keep in mind you can rarely pivot back to who you were. You pivot to who you've become.

Take on the future as it is. Work towards the outcome from where you actually are. Build the strength required for what's next, not the strength you used to have.

Because the only pivot that ever works is the one made from reality.

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Futurist Jim Carroll believes that most people need a reality check when they are trying to reinvent themselves.

**#Pivot** **#Forward** **#Reality** **#Become** **#Reinvention** **#Future** **#Nostalgia** **#Acceptance** **#Growth** **#Change** **#Recovery**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/05/decoding-tomorrow-the-infinite-pivot-series-30-you-dont-pivot-back-to-who-you-were-you-pivot-to-who-youve-become/

"Every 'no' is a vote for a future 'yes.'"- Futurist Jim Carroll

--
Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, based on 36 lessons from his 36 years as a solo entrepreneur, working as a nomadic worker in the global freelance economy. The series is unfolding here, and at pivot.jimcarroll.com.
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In the global freelance economy, the pressure is relentless: take everything that comes through the door. Chase every lead. Never leave money on the table. Never turn down an opportunity.

Hustle.

I get it.

I've lived that reality since 1990.

Here's the thing - the tone for the hustle is set right out of the gate. When you're in year one of running your own thing, every email feels like the difference between making it or not. You say yes to almost anything because the alternative of an empty calendar is terrifying. I've lived that reality for a long time. My early years on my own were a frantic hustle of saying yes to anything that looked like it might pay the bills.

But here is what I've learned in the 36 years since: the pivots that worked weren't built on the things I said yes to; sometimes, they were built on the things I said no to.

Every no is a vote for a future yes.

From 1998 to 2001, I was doing, perhaps, 80 to 100 events per year. 4 keynotes in 4 days in 4 different cities all across North America. Travel, a full schedule, prep time. It was exhilarating, but at the same time, I was raising a young family with my wife, writing even more books about the Internet, participating in book tours, and so much more. And when the dot.com collapse happened in 2001, I was not quite prepared to reinvent - to pivot - at the speed the future demanded. It wasn't until 2004 that I finished writing my book, What I Learned from Frogs in Texas: How to Save Your Skin with Forward Thinking Innovation, that I was able to escape the tech lable nd move into the innovation/futurist branding.

I look back sometimes and realize I lost three years that might have made my pivot to a new future easier. I didn't - because I didn't make time for the necessary pivot, because I was too busy saying yes.

I learned a very powerful lesson.

It's hard to think about, but ultimately, saying YES to everything will eventually get in the way of your success. 
Keep reading the full post in the link: there's more on why saying NO is the best way to get to YES more often.

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Futurist Jim Carroll has come to learn that the potential negativity in saying NO is one of the most powerful ways to get to the positivity of saying YES.

**#No** **#Yes** **#Boundaries** **#Focus** **#Protection** **#Hustle** **#Calendar** **#Burnout** **#Discipline** **#Pivot** **#Freelance** **#Lessons** **#Reputation** **#Time** **#Guard** **#Intelligence** **#Space** **#Reinvention** **#Future** **#Family** **#Health** **#Ruthless** **#Opportunity** **#Careful** **#Onwards**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/05/decoding-tomorrow-the-infinite-pivot-series-29-every-no-is-a-vote-for-a-future-yes/