10/10/2017 8 pieces of advice for thriving in a world of constant change |

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8 pieces of advice for thriving in a world of constant

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Jul 8, 2014 / Joi Ito

On a trip to the Bahamas in 2012, I got the chance to feed a group of grey reef sharks. Now,
feeding sharks is not an activity to be taken lightly. Its a complex challenge that essentially
requires you to coordinate a group of wild animals; you want them excited enough that
they stick around. But you cant just dump lots of food in the water, because that will whip
them into a frenzy, with potentially disastrous consequences.

You spend a lot of time training for a dive like this. And the most important thing is for all of
that training to be second nature. If youre present and aware in the moment, the action just
happens intuitively. The sharks, in all honesty, feel almost like dogs. They have
personalities you see which ones are a little bit more aggressive and which ones have a

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personality that borders on playful. They all seem sort of predictable. You understand
whats going on.

Joi Ito feeding Caribbean reef sharks. Photo by Sebastien Filion/Stuart Coves.

Such intuition is a factor in daily life, too. Our world is filled with complexity, so much so
that if you try to figure out what to do in any given situation linearly, you probably couldnt
do it. Your body has developed processes to deal with situations, and your mind can
coordinate complex behaviors. And yet, in academics and theory, we constantly try to
simplify things to make the complex, linear, so we can codify processes and strive for
repeatable success.

Only, linear thinking is becoming less useful as a model than complex, intuitive thinking.
The most important things that we do in the world today are about orchestrating
complexity. And this is where the whole idea of my TED Talk, Want to innovate? Become a
now-istcomes in. Too often, we study history and we plan for the future. Were not very
focused on the present. I think that theres another way that will only become more useful
as the century continues. Heres my best advice on how to embrace complexity and thrive
right now.

1. Just try it. If you want to learn to snowboard, you can study snowboarding books all
you want. But once you get on the slope, things will be very different. For most people,
it makes more sense to head out onto the slopes, fall a few times, and learn that way.
This doesnt mean theorys not important but as youre reading up on a topic, try it

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too. That way youll have an experience around which to build a framework for
thinking.
2. Look for people who can teach you, and people you can teach. Its very easy to
find peers, so when you jump in and try something, you dont have to do it alone. I
assure you that I didnt go shark diving on my own I went with somebody who
really knew what he wasdoing, and learned from him. Then, as a scuba instructor
(and, now, a PADI-certified shark awareness instructor!), Ive learned so much by
teaching. A lot of people think learning is a solo activity, because thats the way our
schools are organized, but I think fundamentally learning is a very social thing.
3. Become an anti-disciplinarian. We use the word anti-disciplinary at the MIT
Media Lab. We want people who both break the boundaries of disciplines and can
move seamlessly between them. Worldviews and frameworks are so different between
the traditional disciplines that practitioners have a difficult time talking to each other.
The anti-disciplinarian has a global worldview that means you can translate what you
learn from one discipline into another. That means you can pull together insights and
translate them usefully for others. As disciplines keep changing and reinventing
themselves, and as the world gets more connected, being able to move seamlessly
between these different languages becomes increasingly important.
4. Build a diverse network. In the old days, you could learn how to be a banker and
then you could do almost the same thing for the rest of your life. You would be pretty
safe. But now, its unlikely that whatever you learn in college is going to stay the same
over time. Having a wider network will give you more safety. Talking to people who
are outside your traditional tribe can be uncomfortable but in itself thats helpful.
The first time you go to a crowded market, it might be quite scary. But if youre used to
encountering new environments, youve built the ability to parse complexity and
chaos and such an environment wont faze you.
5. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. I grew up going back and forth between the
U.S. and Japan. In Japan, they called me an American; in America, they called me
Japanese. As a result, I felt out of place in both places but I realized that I was
learning more than the people who were comfortable. So I say: get comfortable with
the idea of being uncomfortable. The reason I went shark diving was because I was
afraid of sharks; the reason I oncelived inDubai was that, when I firstvisitedthe
Middle East, I was so confused and uncomfortable that I thought this would be a great
opportunity to learn. In fact, I only learn when Im outside my comfort zone. We all
need to get out of the echo-chamber.
6. Think of technology as tools to help you achieve larger purposes.Its better to
approach technology from the perspective of, How does this help you live your life?
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rather than, Whats the new feature that you should try? Technology is just a tool, so
when you use it, figure out what you want to do and why youre doing it, and then
think about which technologies to apply. Remember, a solution may be very low-tech.
Just today, I decided to switch to paper for scribbling down action items. Its a better
fit for the way I think about things.
7. Deprogram yourself. In the U.S., particularly, we are obsessed with goals. This linear
thinking forces you to lean into the future, and to always be thinking about the next
piece of chocolate youre going to eat, not the one in your mouth right now. A lot of
people who get to places like MIT have had to work very hard to achieve their goals,
and thats why deprogramming is a basic part of what we do at the Media Lab. We
want them to tap into self-motivated, passion-driven learning. The answer to, Why
am I doing this? is Because I want to do this rather than to please someone else, or
to buy that thing. When you buy a new car, you pretty quickly want the next car; the
cycle never ends. Whereas if youre happy being presentyou can always be happy.
8. Make your own model. One shoe simply doesnt fit all. Just because I dropped out of
college, I dont suggest that others drop out of college I think college is great for
most people. I know that no ones life is going to be exactly the same as mine, so doing
as I did or doing as I say is not going to be the answer. Take other peoples experiences
as inputs so you can create your own model. Question authority; think for yourself.
Talk to people, do things unrelated to school to come up with your own framework
for living. The world is too complex and people are too different to be overly
prescriptive about the details.

Joi Ito
Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist"

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as told to Kate Torgovnick May.

Featured image: iStock.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joi Ito Joichi "Joi" Ito is the director of the MIT Media Lab, and an early-stage investor in technology
companies including Twitter, Flickr and Kickstarter. He serves on countless boards and advisory
committees around digital culture and Internet freedom.

advice change comfort zones complexity discomfort Editor's picks future innovation
Joi Ito MIT Media Lab opinion present technology

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