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Daily Inspiration: "Don't forget the obvious" - Futurist Jim Carroll

I've long noticed that many people like to chase the hot trends. In doing so, they forget all about the obvious ones, with the result that they miss out on so many opportunities. Busy chasing the shiny new toy, they fail to find the joy in the old, well-used toy that is right next to them.

When I began my speaking career, most of my events were in my home country of Canada. I often shared the agenda and the stage with a University of Toronto demography professor by the name of David Foot. The book he co-authored, Boom, Bust and Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift, was at the time a national bestseller (as was one of mine!). The book took a look at understanding the past and forecasting the future through the lens of demographics.

The boom? Baby boomers. The bust? Gen-X. And the echo? Today's 35-and-under generation is the technology-weaned, social media-driven generation. The numbers for this demographic breakdown are staggering - 78, 46, and 76 million strong.

So much of what David predicted in his book and on the stage turned out to be correct - because it was so blindingly obvious. I often had the chance to listen to his words of wisdom while waiting offstage for my follow-up keynote on the impact of the Internet, connectivity, and accelerating technology. To me, so much of what I was sharing at the time was blindingly obvious - big things will happen when we plug together everyone around the world.

People often forget about the obvious stuff - and shouldn't - because that is so often the crucible of much opportunity.

That's why this is strategy #12 of my 24 Strategies for 2024 series.

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2023/12/daily-inspiration-24-strategies-for-2024-12-dont-forget-the-obvious/

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