human-vs-robot-09

I was introduced to the idea of theme for the year by Maria Sipka. It’s incredible simple: You start setting a theme minutes before midnight NYE (just a word) that would let serendipity and synchronicity take its course. As I tend to do, I didn’t follow instructions to a T because “work” as the word of the year has been too obvious to me for the last few months:

  • Millions of jobs will disappear in the next few years due to automation and technology. Will we find ways to replace those jobs with new opportunities? Hwat happens if those jobs disappear forever, never to be replaced?
  • Some countries and communities like Finland, Utrecht (Netherlands) and Oakland, California will experiment with Universal Basic Income in the months and years to come. Manitoba in Canada implemented this concept successfully but it was buried when political winds changed.
  • Projections of future job losses are all over the place, ranging from 10 – 40% in the next 10 years. How will our society change when a vast minority faces a jobless future?

On a more personal level, just like almost everybody in my life, I’m struggling with the blurring lines of work and life. More than that, I still tend to define myself mostly through work and its outcome, not enough through myself and who I really am. How do I combine meaning of life and work, where are the lines of separation? How can i rediscover the small pleasures of work that were once embryonic forms when I was a child? How can I forget about typical job categories and rather categorize based on pleasures: I might want to go back to “I am motivated by serving” or “Its’ understanding that gets me going…” How can know myself better, remember where the true sources of excitement and interest lie for me to get to the goal of a more satisfying work and life.

365 days to answer these initial questions and many more. My mission is to cross paths and meet with 50 thinkers and doers who are focusing on new ways to work and live. I want to learn as much as I can and, hopefully, contribute on any level. Definitely write about it, maybe start a podcast, the opportunities are endless.

If you know anybody I should talk, meet with or explore their projects, please share any ideas.

Let’s get to “work”.