Progress Update

I wanted to just write a quick update post about how things are going with the Tomorrow People Initiative. The idea was suggested to me by one of the regular members, and I finally had some time to take him up on it. We just hit the 7-week mark, which is about half a season, and now is as good at time as any to look back on the tangible impact this initiative has had.

So what’s actually happened? Let’s start with some high-level numbers:

And those are just the things I have easy ways of tracking.

I’ve objectively been spending more time keeping up with people from these meetings than I had been before, and subjectively I feel more connected to them. I think that’s mainly just by virtue of being a part of more group chats and having more regular calls with people I care about.

That made me reflect on why I wasn’t doing that more before.

Because the Tomorrow People is just a made-up concept, but in some ways, it’s a label that, at least in my mind, ties everything together. That way I’m not just working on a one-off video, or blog post, or having a random call with an old friend. I’m working on Tomorrow People projects. For some reason having that larger project that I’m working on makes all the smaller interactions feel more meaningful.

Speaking of meaning, it’s also been interesting seeing what different folks have wanted to get out of this time together. I think there’s a general sense that there’s a need for this type of gathering, especially during these Covid lockdowns. But even before this virus, I think a lot of people still struggled with loneliness and a sense of detachment.

Something I’ve heard a few times is that most people’s greatest regrets on their death beds typically revolve around not maintaining their relationships. So while the question of meaning in life feels both simultaneously infinitely complex, sometimes I think it might be astoundingly simple:

It’s sad to think that all this technology designed to make us feel more connected could actually be driving us apart and making us feel more unhappy. But I don’t think it’s the technology itself that’s good or bad. It’s really about our intentions on how we use it, and our understanding of how the technology itself works.

Just how you wouldn’t mess around with a buzzsaw without knowing how it works first, you probably should give these social networks the respect that they are due. They are powerful tools that can be used in all kinds of ways.

I mused the other day that I’m competing against these newsfeed algorithms for a slice of time from a small group of highly intelligent people. The irony is that I’m using tools built by those same companies:

For the most part, the feedback has been generally positive which has helped fuel me and has encouraged me to keep running with this idea. Like I said earlier, I think there’s a real need for a forum for exploring deeper ideas and questions about life.

My general thoughts/approach to that has been to offer a private space, which is the Meeting of the Minds, so people can speak more freely and feel comfortable. But I also wanted to offer a public forum, which is the podcast. I think there’s a value to sharing the information we discuss with the world. And I recognize that people’s attention is a competitive space to be in, but even if only a handful of people that are close to me find that information entertaining or educational I’ll be satisfied.

I’ve definitely learned a lot by exploring the idea of the Tomorrow People. It’s helped me prioritize getting the most important pieces in place first, and then iterating on the details over time. For example, just getting the podcast hosting setup, deploying the audio to various platforms, finding the right software to use, and setting up the hardware properly removed the main barriers to entry. And then just making a quick plan about who to have on as guests first, and how we could slowly get better over time as hosts were all valuable experiences in learning how to execute on a project. There have been some speed bumps along the way, but every challenge is also a lesson. I’ve been forced to step outside of my comfort zone far more and push myself to be resourceful and learn new skills. And with every lesson, I become more effective as a creator and a leader.

Something I hope we can continue to do more of as a group is to work on more projects together. I want us to create things that we have a shared sense of ownership over. But I also know that I need to be patient and make sure to pace myself and do fewer things well rather than spread myself super thin across too many different areas.

Group projects can be tricky since they involve a greater time commitment from the members and need some degree of coordination. And just from what I’ve learned from doing the podcast I know even scheduling people can be difficult. But I’m confident that as the vision becomes clearer and clearer, and as we all get better at executing things will start to fall into place.

The bottom line is that we’re just getting started and the momentum for this thing only seems to be picking up. I’ve got a lot of projects on my to-do list and I can’t wait to see where things stand in another 7 weeks now that we’ve got a lot of things in motion.

So until then, stay tuned!

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