For better or worse, Sorin

PROLOGUE

Change is hard challenging. But this is what moves us forward. Without evolution, without adversities or roadblocks, we wouldn't come up with new ways to innovate. And without innovation, we're as good as dead in the water.

As AI, machine learning, self-driving cars, open-source and free everything surrounds us, we should no longer fear or expect the future. We should provoke it. We are, essentially, already living in the future. But that's the topic of one of my next books...

As I wrote my first book within Evonomix (Think Like Steve Jobs, Work Like Steve Wozniak), I was very interested in the people, relationships, actions and projects that shaped my first 5 years with the company. So here I am, about 3 years later, looking not towards the outside, but rather within. Almost like a fuse that just went off or a prophecy scribbled down a long time ago, things I wrote about started coming true: "I've started working more and more on myself, on consciously making choices". While that was true then, to some degree, I cannot express the immense improvements I've made since then.

This time around, I'm more transparent than ever: the good, the ugly, the addictions, the solutions, the tricks, the end goal.

Magical things seem to happen once you focus. I'm a big believer in the distinction between "shallow work" (checking email, following a simple tutorial, doing the bare minimum, etc.) and "deep work" (meditation, improving habits, creating books, courses, websites, apps, etc.). Once you start to focus on something - anything - you start adding layers on top of it. You start seeing things differently. You start going for gold, not just wanting to finish the race (to be over with it so you can move on to the next thing).

Focus, I believe, makes the difference between good work and exceptional work. Of course, focus alone is not and cannot be the only thing responsible for this. It could be seen as a catalyst or a trigger. Focus should be a given when the work is taken seriously. You also need discipline. Flow. Perseverance. Motivation. A belief that what you're doing is not only important, but life-changing. Without these, your work will simply be. It will exist. But it will not be extraordinary or groundbreaking or world-class.

When I say "work" I don't mean "a job" or "a project". It could be those, but it's not limited to them. It's anything you set your mind to. Your body (nutrition, fitness, etc.) could be your work. Your mind (meditation, new language learning, etc.) could be your work. Your soul (purpose, Ikigai, self-knowledge, etc.) could be your work. Anything that you pour yourself into, day after day, is your work. I'm sure there are parents and grandparents who feel satisfied knowing their children and their grandchildren are their life's work. People they've spent years and decades teaching, helping, moulding into exceptional beings.

Right now, you might've not found your life's work yet. And that's ok. There's no judgement here. For most of my life I can honestly say I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew the things I enjoyed doing (writing, playing, talking to my friends, watching TV, creating content), but I couldn't really figure out what I was meant to do. Or what was the one thing I could be doing long after I'm retired. I'm trying not to spoil anything here, but hopefully you'll get a few clues in the "Human Design" chapter.

Life is about searching. Learning, unlearning, relearning. It's as much about learning as it is about teaching. It's as much about learning as it is about forgetting. Or letting go. So this book is about learning how to be a man, finding my Ikigai (you'll understand what that is) and building a strong foundation for the future.

I announced writing a book early 2019 at one of the first management meetings. It was supposed to be all about the future, the innovative tech that's here today and how it will help us improve the present (things like robotic process automation, voice control, touch sensors, various integrations, vegan meat, electric car sharing systems, deepfakes, etc.). I am still deeply interested in the future and I've realised as I started researching the book that we cannot talk about "humanity's future", but rather "humanity's futures" (even autocorrect thinks that word in plural doesn't really work).

China has a future, the U.S.A. has a future, Belgium has a future, Romania has a future. While collectively the situation doesn't seem so bright, there are reasons to smile and think positive thoughts. I wanted the book to work as both a beacon of hope within a sea of dark, negative news, but also as a reference guide for people who believe we're not advancing and things are, for the most part, as they've always been.

I wanted to set the record straight and help people understand we're living in the most amazing moment in history. Never before have there been so many radical improvements one after another at such a large scale - read the book Exponential Organizations if you want to get just a taste of those. Then once people understood we're actually in a time of prosperity and great advances in technology, then maybe they'd work towards making a better future for all of us. Because the planet really does need all of us to help it.

But that book was scary. It was part of a bigger project that also contained a website on futurism. Something that I still don't think I can handle on my own for a long period of time. So I bailed on that book and settled on something I'm more familiar with and I can confidently talk more about: myself.

The futurism book is still in my mind, I'm still gathering news, articles and studies. I am just waiting for the best time to actually start working on it. Perhaps it shouldn't be a book. It seems funny to write about the future in a medium that gets outdated the second it's finished or printed. I'm trying to avoid that - the educational system has used this method for decades and it's now, at least a little bit, obsolete.

It's not by complete accident that I'm switching from the future to something about the past. I've always been a dreamer, someone who saw how things could be or should be, not as they actually were. That's caused me some pain, as I wasn't being realistic. For a while I was too much of a pragmatic, people told me I lacked imagination. So now I'm trying to get back to somewhere in the middle of those extremes, to find myself again.

Looking towards the future is fun, it's exciting for me. But my focus can only go so far. And when I'm constantly thinking about one thing (the coming years), I'm losing touch with another (the moment I am in right now).

This book, the book you are reading right now, is an examination of the past 1-2 years, as well as reflections on the past, on the experiences that have led me to this point. While it sounds fascinating to me to keep cataloguing my thoughts, ideas and experiences like this, I don't see myself writing one of these books every year. It's way too time consuming at the moment. Perhaps I'll stick to daily journaling instead.

I've split the book into 3 main sections, each with 2 subsections, as follows:

MIND

● Writing as therapy

● Speaking my truth

BODY

● Enunciation

● Nutrition & fitness

SOUL

● Human Design

● My annual personal mission

Don't worry, even though I talk about my soul, this is not a religious book. You are free to explore, no matter your creed, age, nationality, etc.

In terms of the format itself, it is written in quite a linear fashion (as in: I've started with the Mind section, continued through to the Body and ended with the Soul), but it's not necessarily read in that way. If you're familiar with Tim Ferriss' "The 4 Hour Body", it's a set of stories gathered together. More like a catalogue of narratives than a narrative running from point A to point B.

What I'm trying to say is: feel free to read whichever section you want first. For me, reading this way is even more interesting, as it allows you to view me through various lenses. Without further ado, enjoy "For better or worse, Sorin".