One of the classic tropes of science fiction is the flying car. As far back as The Jetsons, flying cars have been a staple of what we believe the future will hold. The futuristic flying car as a trope is so common that it has even become a trope to question why we don’t have flying cars yet.
It’s clear that the future doesn’t always look the way we expect it to, and one could certainly be forgiven for not knowing what the future will bring. And yet we often find ourselves limiting our current decisions and options because we’ve already decided what the future holds.
Getting to our desired future state is almost always a nonlinear path filled with setbacks and detours. Often, to achieve a breakthrough in one area of technology, you must first wait for other supporting areas to have breakthroughs which enable it. The iPhone was built upon advances in touchscreen and battery technology, as well as the existence of the internet (for enabling the App Store).
Similarly, on the path of your life, don’t get stuck on the flying car. Don’t box yourself into a false set of limited options, simply because you have already decided what the future will look like.
Two great questions to ask:
- What am I missing that could be a hidden requirement to X?
- What is the next level up from X, such that it renders X completely obsolete?