Rush to Learn

I am in a mad rush to complete several courses in Linked In. The month-free trial period will be ending on the 31st of July. After the trial period, my credit card will be charged close to $ 300. I am cramming on all the courses on Artificial Intelligence and general productivity subjects. Afterward, I plan to continue my AI learning in the company-sponsored Udemy account. I also have been listing to podcast on investing in stocks that will benefit from the current rush to AI.

Some commentary point to a bubble with AI tools way into the future to significantly improve work and life but companies like Microsoft are already raising subscription prices on the use of their tools. Who would have thought that MS would take the lead with their investment in Open.AI and Chat GPT. Google and Meta are close behind having made significant early investments in the field. Google may lead eventually with their significant early investment and embed it into the toolset.

The promise of AI in improving one's life has significant potential. Writers who have strong fundamentals in storytelling can benefit from the use of LLM - Large Language Models that simulate understanding the generated output like written stories. Most people call this aspect generative AI which is the prevalent manifestation of AI and not the omniscient behemoth in movies like Mission Impossible. Linking AI to actual tasks and concrete actions (controlling machines or nuclear missiles) will cause significant danger as compared to the current manifestation via chatbot.

The current potential is more on increasing one's productivity, to add or augment one's skills. I plan to learn AI tools for novel writing and perhaps responding to emails and making reports in the office. My recent discovery of my slight ADHD condition is the other area that I am studying. I entered a course on Building a Second Brain (BASB) is the other game-changer for me. This will help me organize my life in a way that I have never had the ability to do. Recognizing the problem of ADHD was the first major step.

My early intuitive urge in writing journals and blogging helped me manage my ADHD without my knowing it. Having an active lifestyle of exercising, swimming, biking, and hiking kept my mind sharp. My second intuitive urge to learn meditation and Tai Chi, do therapy, and practice Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) was also helpful. Now including AI and BASB are the next wave of tools that will help me in a second career. TCDS and magnetic headband tools plus learning to juggle and play a musical instrument will play a part as well.

Too much AI = Hallucination

I am taking several courses in LinkedIn on topics like artificial intelligence, creating lists and other productivity lessons. I also enrolled in 2 courses in Udemy on Chat GPT and Google Bard that I have not completed.  I also enrolled in Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain as well as several courses on writing in  Domestika.com. I am cramming due to the recent change in my role from squad lead back to Project Manager. I guess also to prepare for my life after work ; just to keep me busy and continue earning money.

As struggle to achieve my goal to be a writer, a thought came to my mind is that writing is just a hobby to me, not a real pursuit as I keep procrastinating. There is always attempts on self-sabotage by cramming to learn the latest trends such as AI and what not. Yesterday I watched the latest Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie as well well as Ben Affleck's move 'Air' about Nike's pursuit of Michael Jordan. Both movies are highly recommended and I felt I needed to watch - actually the fear of missing out (FOMO).

In the midst of of all these mental procrastination and missed attention, I face several challenges at work especially on the project INDU which I thought I had a handle to but turns out the problem has not been solved. Complicating maters is my move to the new role plus stress, anxiety and loss of face that brings me. Projects are ongoing, customers are angry, criticisms abound from co-workers, bosses and management team who I feel are screaming for my blood.

But that is being dramatic as management really want to help out and not look for the scapegoat to sack. My boss is a different matter: striking alliance with business teams in her usual slick and cute manner; conniving behind my back possibly because she thinks I am a threat or insecure or just a cold-blooded operator who will strike down anyone who gets in her way. Thank the lord that I have been meditating every morning plus getting exercise to help relieve stress.     

I do acknowledge that I struggle in my role as team leader (though I blame my management for not preparing me for the role but also for general incompetence). A recent survey have rated the team at a low level which is testimony to the common feeling that not all is right. I have so many ideas that I cannot keep track and lose sight of other goals at work and other personal projects like clearing out my garage.

The strategy is to keep calm and focus on the moment, use science like getting enough exercise and sleep and use gratitude journals and blogging to keep the mind sane as well as use TCDS devices to zap my brain and compensate for any effects of my slight ADHD syndrome. But I have changed as well, to recognize my emotional states at time and the inappropriate ways of communicating and relating to my squad members as friends instead of being ruthless and cold-blooded to get things done. 

  

ADHD

 I recently realized that I have some ADHD which may express my feelings of stress and anxiety. My intuitive ventures into journaling, meditation and Tai CHi has helped me through the years but the underlying issue is ADHD. Even my use of TCDS - coursing electricity through my brain was also an intuitive attempt to manage ADHD. ADHD was the demon lurking behind the scenes unbeknowest to me.

In my recent role, it became clear that I am struggling with the demands of this job though the organization and process is not perfect as well. I had my usual attempts to be more productivity but the mental acuity was not there. I also was clearing up my garage with all the stuff when it became clear that impulsive buying and the way I just dumped all these stuff in the garage or even in the dining table was a sign of a different sort of mental issue.

The discovery was made after listening to Andrew Huberman's podcast of ADHD and concentration when things started to click. The way he described how ADHD afflicted people use the piling method to organize their stuff, being prone to stress and implusiveness made me take an online exam to determine my situation. The test results show that I am more than 50% to 60% with symptoms of ADHD which now made me understand the way I think and do things.

Being ADHD is the all encompasing reason of the the cognitive challenges that I have been facing. The good news being that I amnot fully ADHD but more that the average person.Soemhow it present a new beginning for me despite the work I still need to do to make me more affective in work and life. I stared a reatiude journal - writing in long hand the items I am grateful about, jotting notes in the morning or after work.

All these years I have been journaling and doing things like therapy and CBT to manage my mind and made me want to be a writer to take advantage of my love of books and writing where reaction to ADHD without my knowing it. The goal was to have a clear mind and this was my path forward. 

But this afflection does not explain all my mental ills as I made conscious decision to live the life I wanted to live and take ownership and direction of where my actions have taken me. I am in a much better place now than before and as compared to most people which I am grateful  for. 

Artificial Intelligence

AI is the buzzword that's spreading like crazy with major business leaders predicting a major change happening in all aspects of life. In keeping with this hysteria, I took several courses on this topic on Udemy and Linkedin. It does promise a new way of working and living. I study ChatGPT and Googla Bard, learning things like Large Language Models (LLM)and regenerative AI. Frankly, I am excited and see the potential for transformation.

I linked this topic with Building a Second Brain(NASB) and revisited a podcast to remember the steps and the main tasks of taking notes. I failed to move forward and have not fully exploited the ideas on BYOB; struggling to implement the next steps of taking good notes and reflecting and constructing a second brain; getting caught up in the toolset rather than the process.

I feel I am on the cusp of a major event; that this is a watershed moment of a new way of thinking and working. It will be a weird world as expressed by Ezra Klein in a past podcast; where the strangeness of a new form of intelligence is guiding people's future. I took a lesson on Sudowrite - which is an AI tool that provides writers with a writing assistant or partner. This looks like a tool that I have been waiting for to kick-start my writing goals.

What are the roles of the writer if the computer can do the writing? How will the office work use AI to be more productive and excel? This is where the excitement and wonder lie, where one figure out what to do with the new tool and change his life. It is the aspect of the new that draws people to the new age.