Don’t speedrun your potential
The driver’s seat gives him a soft buzz. Ready for the scenic part, he blinks awake and shakes off the nap. Their transport glides in lane, locking speed to the flow.
- Argh.
When a groan erupts from the back seat, his partner zooms the rear-view feed. Their daughter frantically taps the rear door glass.
- You woke up your brother. What’s up?
- It’s stuck. My game froze, and now my window won’t switch to display mode.
- It’s not frozen. We’re on a wonder lane. Tourism board rules here: auto flow and no overlays, so everyone can fully take in the view. Hold on, it’s worth it.
- Easy for you to say. You’re not in the middle of a competition.
He joins the exchange, throwing in a comforting smile.
- Listen, don’t rush your ideas. Tools can make you faster, but they can’t make you better. When you love doing something, you need a room to play, to be messy, to get lost inside your idea… It takes time.
- And requires breaks.
Their daughter grunts.
- Hmm…
- You know, I try to keep one rule with technology.
- Which is…?
- Don’t speedrun your potential. Automate what you don’t want to do, but never let the machines do what you love. Skip the cutscenes, but don’t skip the part where you get good. Okay, everyone, we’re almost there.
Their son giggles.
- Ten, nine, eight… That’s so funny.
At the set speed, lane markers sync with the car’s audio, and a countdown rolls through the cabin. The kids look at each other and grin.
- Three, two, one…
The tunnel spits them out without warning. Golden hour light floods the interior. The valley opens below them, and the mountains take up the whole windshield. A collective gasp of wonder fills the car. It’s the kind of view that steals your words, like trying to describe a new colour.
- Do you miss your overlay now?
She goes quiet for a beat, eyes still on the valley.
- No... but I’d want to choose when to look. Wait a moment, this tourism board basically patched the highway with forced cutscenes.
- Can we restart that moment? I want to gasp again.
- Me too!
They share a smile up front.
- See? That’s the right instinct.
- Okay… we’re streamtracking anyway. One courtesy replay remaining.
- But I still want my game back.
- You’ll get it back. You can restart a build. You can’t restart a moment.
The windows dim as the transport blanks overlays, smoothly rolling the view back into the tunnel.
- This lane is unfair.
Memories to build from this future:
1. Think back to the moment you realised you’d been automating something you actually loved doing.
What was the activity, and when did the joy start fading without you noticing?
How did it feel to take back a process that machines had been handling for you?
What surprised you about how much skill you lost without realising it?
How do you now decide what deserves your time versus what should be delegated?
2. Try to recall when a junior hire wanted to skip the slow and difficult part of learning something important and let a tool finish it for them.
What argument did they make that was genuinely hard to counter?
How did you explain the difference between efficiency and growth without romanticising struggle?
What example from your own life did you use, and did it land?
How did the outcome shape the way you mentor others through the uncomfortable early stages of learning?
3. Think back to when your organisation built its first capability protection list, agreeing to never automate critical skills and processes.
What made it onto the list that surprised even the people who proposed it?
How did you handle the tension between short-term efficiency gains and long-term erosion of expertise?
Which team pushed back the hardest, arguing their protected processes were a waste of time?
How does the list help your organisation today to distinguish between the roles where AI helps people grow and where it quietly holds them back?
Each memory from the future you build sharpens your strategic instincts for the decisions ahead.
Build enough memories.
Shape better futures.
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