Adaptability is Key in This World

A chameleon over a racehorse

April 15, 2024

🏇 A Chameleon Over a Racehorse

We’ve adapted since the dawn of civilization and with the emergence of new tech, and methodologies we’ll probably need to exponentially adapt with time. Gene selection did a majority of work in history and left behind a chunk of us.

In the last few years of my travels, I crossed paths with a good chunk of colleagues from high school and college. It was nice to see a friendly face in a new city but sometimes we had such different lives or mindsets that conversations were awkward.

I’m no psychologist (I am a data scientist tho) but I know a pattern when I see one and I could classify these colleagues in either one of the 2 buckets below and the patterns would follow. I call this the Racehorse vs Chameleon effect.

Aced The Class

Performed Average or Below 

yeah I’m building up my savings to an x amount, I wanna retire by 60-65 and do XYZ

I’ve got 1-2 years worth of savings, I have an abundance of $X per month, I wanna spend it in diff ways to make my life better right now 

I specialized in industry X, it doesn’t seem to work but wanna make more money, đź’° but still wanna stay in this industry 

Yeah I majored in this but I’ve switched my domain of work multiple times over the last few years, increased pay a little but don’t feel insecure about anything

X is going to be replacing all our jobs and we should have laws against it

X is going to do what I do twice as fast for half the price. I’m probably going to find a way to use it or help build applications with it. 

I wanna move to North America, Europe or G7 and get a permanent residency card. Willing to stay with the same employer for 20+ years to get residency, visit family or take a vacation once a year for a few weeks if PTO approved

Already moved a few times for a better standard of living, took a pay cut sometimes, but became healthier, started a few side businesses. Doing a retreat or road trip every few months

The ones that were at the top of the class usually were the racehorses racing to the end of the line outlined by the trad norms while the latter were the chameleons, adapting almost every step of the way, slower but optimizing their own life for that step and the following step. 

I might’ve done injustice to a few A+ colleagues who probably fall into the latter category but regardless I think it was the ability to adapt and optimize every step of the way in their own life that took the Chameleons to the position they were at.

 

🛠️ This Week’s Browser History

  1. Vocode: Automate phone calls with AI ?

  2. Codeium: Uses AI….helps code better……something something