Tag: Philip Dodson

Squirrels

Posted on by philipdodson

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Often in life, like squirrels with nuts, we accumulate all kinds of physical or virtual things. The difference between us and the squirrels is squirrels collect nuts to eat to survive.

We collect stuff often without thought as to why we collect it.

I had for example collected over 900 connections on LinkedIn, quite a small network compared to pro-squirrels, who may have amassed 1,000’s of connections.

We had accumulated at home, randomly, more plates, cups, glasses, cutlery and stuff than we could need for many families or lifetimes.

We need to consume or do something with all the needless stuff we have accumulated.

For example, I am now reaching out personally to every one of 900 people on LinkedIn that I am connected to, simply to see if there is something we maybe able to help each other with. No sales pitch, no future invoice in mind, just connecting with another human because I can and who knows where it might lead.

At home, we are reducing everything to what we actually need and giving away what we do not need.

There are many more examples you could all find in your own lives where you have simply accumulated something and not to stopped to question why.

Removing physical clutter feels great and so does removing mental clutter too.

Use things, gather only what you need and don’t be a squirrel unless you like nuts and living in a tree.

Goodbye one income, uh oh!

Posted on by philipdodson

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Most of us have been used to backing the ‘single income source’ horse in the race of life.

In today’s supercharged changing world of work, this a risky bet.

We have been sold certainty by the mythmakers of the industrialised system. They have sold us such myths as full employment, jobs for life, rising incomes, safe pensions, rising standards of living, safe investments, and so on. They are all just evaporating myths, that were never anything more than a story to increase compliance. Now we are petrified of uncertainty, the slightest hiccup causes panic, anxiety and meltdown.

In just 4 years, it’s predicted, that 45% of the job functions in the US could be done by AI. That’s 4 years, not 40!

All unskilled, semi-skilled and some skilled job functions are at risk to AI, what will we all do when work is no longer there?

The reliance on a single source, usually in the form of an employer, is no longer the safe option. Multiple income streams will increasingly be the only way to allow some security.

There are some fundamental challenges for people to adapt to a multiple-income life from a paid, single source, employment life. It will require learning new skills, becoming able to break away from shallow knowledge-based work to a much deeper focused meaningful work life.

Many will not be equipped emotionally or skilled enough to make this change.

The solution though is to look at what we need our income for, do we ever stop to question that?

If we need our income to service debts for houses and consumption of shit we don’t need, then perhaps the loss of a single substantial income coming from a safe job is going to be a real shock to many.

If we assessed our lives differently,looked to see that beyond the essentials, we really only need money to fund activities with the people who matter and to create happiness, memories and legacies that are meaningful for ourselves and the other humans we share the planet with. Then having a lower income coming from a range of flexible activities and less time at work is hugely more soulful and rewarding for all and more appealing.

After all, we are never going to say at the end of our journeys ‘shit, I wish I’d work longer’ or ‘if only I could have owned more stuff’ or ‘I am so glad I had that big house, big car, big….’

We are all going to have to say goodbye to a single income and accept that work will be more scarce.

Who knows, perhaps we can allow AI to do the work and we can do better things for ourselves and the human race.