How to Prepare for the Apocalypse that may Never Arrive
A guide to entering 2023 in the right way
In 2023, the world as you know it is going to go for a wild ride, with ups and downs, and sudden swerves. Not only will you be prepared, but you will also be ready to capture the opportunity in the changes to come!
We are in a time of the everything shift crossed with ubiquitous information flows. We are inundated with an overload of the world changing at breakneck speed. Trends become fads overnight. The hero’s journey is compressed into one news cycle. The news cycle lasts a day, maybe even an hour, or just one tweet storm. We jump from one cataclysmic event to another without losing a beat. Things previously impossible are now passé. And yet, you are still here. Battered and bruised, maybe. But still standing. That should give you comfort heading into 2023, the year that may make 2020 look like a picnic in a rosy meadow.
Your favorite intellectual influencer may tell you why the matrix’s walls are closing in on you. Or you may be following New Age Dale Carnegie-Eckhart Tolle hybrids – live in the present and manifest positivity! I’m here to tell you that the sky is indeed falling. But also that it’s fallen before. I’m here to tell you that the ‘apocalypse’ is near – the world as you know it is coming to an end. But also that every apocalypse is just a precursor to a new dawn (sounds dark, I know!). I’m here to tell you that you can choose to be in the matrix or outside it – and either choice is ok!
In 2023, the world as you know it is going to go for a wild ride, with ups and downs, and sudden swerves. Some people are going to be worse for wear. However, you – with all your knowledge and motivated social media from Steve Harvey tucked in your phone – will not just survive but thrive! And should you wish, you can lay the foundation for years of success for you, your institution, your country, or simply your potted Basil plant!
So read on, and let’s cross the Rubicon of 2023 together.
The Big Shifts
The broad changes you need to calibrate for fit into a few categories.
1. What goes up must come down
Since 1945 the West has been on an upward trajectory, and since the 1980s, we have had a global economy on a money-printing binge, alongside a rising China. Then in 2020/21, we saw a massive jump in wealth. The great reversal began in 2022 and will accelerate. When and how will it stop?
2. Systems survive and find balance OR collapse
Why are many of our systems still standing? People have been waiting for a collapse of the American dollar, for the United Nations to disappear, or for that new Sino-world order to arrive. All those folks may be waiting to exhale for quite a while. Systems have a tremendous survival instinct, and bureaucratic honeycombs find ways to balance with threats and new energy on the horizon, no matter how disruptive. Every now and then, the calibration is off, and we see a critical failure.
3. Anything is possible today more than ever
We are at the tipping point of globalization crossed, with digital omnipresence crossed with autonomous technology. It means that anyone has a world of possibility in the palm of their hands. Launch your own satellite? Why not! Be an anon influencer of millions. Sure! Create an AI-written newspaper – let’s go! You can do anything. Be anywhere. Any time. In any form. But so can others. So be wary of whom you find in the shadows!
What does this all mean for YOU?
There’s a lot to digest on these global shifts. And lots of details to delve into. More to come on that in later posts and podcasts. For now, here are some digestible tidbits to reflect on. You can apply this individually or institutionally.
1. Go big or go home
In times of change, it is time to get to work, build and invest, although it is volatile. If you can’t handle it, there is no in-between – get comfortable and secure the ‘homefront.’
2. Be widely literate but incredibly focused
You need to expand your horizons beyond Goodreads. Learn skills widely. Yet you will always only have a few strengths. Double down on those and exhilarate in your excellence.
3. Question everything, answer nothing
Private is the new public. Do not reveal your plans before realizing them – circumstances are changing far too fast. And question all existing prognostications without biasing the reality you see.
4. Learn from the past, look to the future, build in the present
The past is a teacher. The Great Depression is instructive on the role of Central Banks. Remember, though, no two eras are the same! And the future is indeed coming, but you cannot live in the future! We are living in the transition. You can be early just as you can be late. Don’t be Friendster.
5. Be tribal, avoid tribalism
You need support when systems are flailing, even if they may not be failing. Your best protection will be your tribe. Invest in them. But do not fall into the tribalism trap and drop your empathy and openness to others.
6. Do not read the room, leave the room
Make your own room. Short of that, choose the spaces you enter into. And everything changes in a time of change, including the room you’re in. You may read the room correctly and decide you need to change it up.
7. Hedge and make big bets
Be hedged in markets, skills, networks, and investments. At the same time, lay down a few big bets and be willing to lose those chips. The biggest bet, though, as always? Yourself (see #10).
8. Embrace your crazy
You read that right. Do not suppress your crazy in a crazy world; only show it to the right people at the right time. Nurture it. It may be the future.
9. Do not blindly chase meaning or gurus
Flux will cause you to search and others to surface. Just don’t get too attracted to false prophets with unproven philosophies. There are already – and will be more – a lot of grifts, graft, and unclean hands.
10. Work out
In all senses, work out. Get strong. Resilient. Flexible. Balanced. And aim for short and long endurance. As an individual. As an organization. As a country.
In closing
Don’t fret that the New Year is here! The locusts may come, the flood waters may rise, and the sky might indeed fall!
Nevertheless…
Not only will you be prepared, but you will also be ready to capture the opportunity in the changes to come!