She took out the butter and realised I had been hyper-trading again
- I developed this ritual to celebrate great days. On my way home, I would switch the investment assistant into a high-risk strategy for a tiny adrenaline punch. Last week, I probably fell asleep while returning from a company party and forgot about it.
- If I were your wife, I would be so much worse.
- As the investing assistant was accumulating new assets, our cash flow dropped during the next few days, so the daily expenses assistant asked other apps to switch into savings mode.
He takes a long sip from an ice-chilled bottle and continues.
- It was Saturday morning. We just had our groceries delivered, and she was unpacking them. She took out the butter and realised I had been hyper-trading again.
- But how?
- Our grocery assistant replaced her favourite salted butter with a generic one.
- You really think it’s your assistants’ fault? Blaming tech has had such a long history. The system is not working. The reception was spotty. The autocorrect wrote this. Thank god technology is progressing. Without new things to blame for our problems, we would finally be forced to take responsibility for our actions. You have a nice family and a great life. Why on earth are you risking this?
- I’m not sure. Maybe I just can’t stop thinking about how I wish I could have built all this again.
- The last time my missus lost it was when the construction crew painted our bedroom with the wrong kind of quiet paint.
He gives his friend a surprised look.
- Wrong kind?
- Well, you wouldn’t have guessed it, but there are two types of quiet paint, and I was too busy with meetings to focus on the contractor’s messages. So, instead of acoustic isolation, our bedroom is now network-proof. No Wi-Fi. Zero G. And this shit is so expensive to get rid of that I just accepted my mistake.
- At least your sleep got better.
- Nah, not really. Every night, I have a few seconds of panic that I won’t be able to call 911.
- Speaking of panic attacks. I’ll talk to my therapist about this urge for risk.
- You butter.
- That was so extra low. I don’t know you anymore.
They clink glasses.
Hello Practical Futurists,
Welcome to your weekly practice, where we use futures thinking and product sci-fi to improve your strategic imagination and get your leadership future-ready.
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Weekly Self-Reflection Prompts
Let's make the products and services mentioned in this week’s story even more relatable by grounding them in your personal life.
Use this quote as a starting point for extra inspiration for each prompt.
The future you have, tomorrow, won't be the same future you had, yesterday.
Chuck Palahniuk
Personal life reflection prompts
What are the 2 reasons your need for external validation usually makes you accept or avoid more risk?
Where in your personal life could reducing technological dependency improve your overall quality of life?
In what 2 ways could you help your kids or loved ones maintain personal accountability for their actions in a world where it’s easy to blame technology for our mistakes?
Which room at your home would you paint with acoustic quiet paint and which with the signal-blocking one?
In what 3 ways can you ensure automated decision-making aligns with your values?
Would you prefer a single AI assistant or multiple specialised ones to be responsible for your finances?
If you could delegate one household chore, what would it be, and what would you do in the time it would save you? How would you balance the convenience with oversight and control?
Where and at what time of the week will you most likely appreciate what you have in your life?
Good job.
Let’s move on to the context of the industry, organisation, team, service, or product you are working with.
Professional life reflection prompts
In what 2 ways can you balance promoting risk-taking as a growth opportunity with maintaining a culture of accountability and ownership?
If your organisation introduced standard operating procedures for managing technological failures, would this help your team or limit its autonomy?
What 3 steps do you take to keep a balance between technological convenience and critical thinking?
In your region, should the acoustic quiet paint producer focus their product portfolio on addressing a vertical market (specific customers with specific needs) or a horizontal market (large customer base with a wide range of needs)? How could it be different for the signal-blocking paint producer?
What is your go-to anecdote for promoting a workplace culture where mistakes are learning opportunities rather than setbacks?
Automating which 3 core business processes with an AI assistant would dramatically change your team’s performance?
Your favourite best practice for minimising confusion during knowledge transfer is…?
What are the 2 things that won’t get automated in your industry and one that will very soon?
Can you “stay on brand” while providing automated decision-making?
Name one leader who is famous for taking calculated risks.
And that's all for today.
Discover how leaders like you and their teams max out Practical Futures to get future-ready.
If you have joined recently, don't forget to explore previous editions for extra inspiration.
See you soon.
Pawel Halicki
Join strategic thinkers preparing to lead in the age of AI. Ten minutes a week is all it takes to start.
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