For some reason, today I’m feeling a little reflective and thankful. So, I’m going to take a break for one post form my usual rantings to spend a moment appreciating the awesome power of technology.
My compulsion is to live my life like it’s the amazing race. One obstacle to the next, trying to be as quickly successful as I can in each endeavor. As a result, I don’t spend time very often just appreciating some of the amazing things taking place around me.
So, today I want to pause for at least a moment to reflect on how technology has done so many wonderful things in my life.
- Facebook has provided me a gateway to reconnect with and stay in touch with people who had drifted out of my life over the years. Old high school friends, college buddies, former co-workers, and even some distant family members. I may still not “see” them often, but I feel so much more connected to these people than could have been possible a few years ago.
- Twitter is such a gift. It has opened up an entire world of new connections and colleagues, content and insights that weren’t so readily available to me with it. It has also created a community of open support and collaboration that I’ve found to be incredibly generous and supportive.
- Skype is like magic. It means that my children and their grandparents can have face time with one another even when they are 200 miles apart. It also means that I can “see” my family and talk to them, even when I’m halfway around the world. That’s invaluable and, ironically, skype is free. I can’t even really comprehend how that works, but I’m thankful it does.
- I don’t think a day goes by that I’m not a little bit amazed by my Smartphone. The fact that an entire computer’s worth of technology fits in my pocket is astonishing. And, then you throw in things like free navigation and maps courtesy of Google (which has bailed me out many times), grocery lists in the cloud, email that follows me everywhere (a good and bad thing), and the list goes one forever. Not to mention that they can stream children’s programs on the screen which can diffuse an angry toddler in sticky situations.
- My colleague, Joe Gerstandt, and I just published our first book. Through this process we learned about companies like CreateSpace.com that have used the power of digital printing to make publishing accessible to the everyone. Technology has completely turned the book publishing world on it’s head. A top quality paperback book can be printed on-demand and shipped in a matter of a few hours. It’s astonishing.
- High Definition Television has changed how we experience sports at our house. We have always been a sports loving household so we love our HDTV. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when I was stuck in a hotel room to watch a basketball game on an “old school” 19″ television that wasn’t either a flat screen or high def, did I realize how much I’ve already started to take for granted the awesomeness of HD.
I suppose my point in writing this today is just to remind myself (and perhaps you too) to take the time to recognize, notice and appreciate the awesomeness that happens around us. I have these same moments about my family, my relationship with my wife, my work, my network, and many other things on occasion. Generally, it strikes me like a lightning bolt. My goal is to make this practice of recognition and appreciation more frequent and consistent.
So, for today, I give thanks to the technology gods (and everyone else who has a role in making all of this technological magic possible). I don’t know what I’d do without it.
Have a great weekend!
Jason,
Thank you, very insightful. While reading your post, it occurred to me that it is not just technology that we take for granted. I have built an exceptional team specialising in a very fast growing market (Business Process Management) and if I ever get in to a position where I take them for granted, I know that they will vote with their feet!
Thanks for the reminder!