🎃Hey friends, I am Dennis and welcome to my first episode of The Dose newsletter.
📙I published 6 book notes over the last week so make sure you check them out.
📒Current Read
I am currently reading 'The Obstacle is the Way' by Ryan Holiday and my favourite quote from the book so far is this;
"We decide what we will make of each and every situation. We decide
whether we’ll break or whether we’ll resist. We decide whether we’ll assent or
reject. No one can force us to give up or to believe something that is untrue
(such as, that a situation is absolutely hopeless or impossible to improve). Our
perceptions are the thing that we’re in complete control of."
💊On to The Dose.
1. Facebook becomes Meta
Late last week, Facebook changed it's company's name to 'Meta' which is a testament to the company's increasing focus on the metaverse.
💡These words from its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg were particularly interesting;
"I've been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter. Facebook is one of the most used products in the history of the world. It is an iconic social media brand, but increasingly it just doesn't encompass everything that we do. Today we're seen as a social media company, but in our DNA, we are a company that builds technology to connect people. And the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started."
Facebook has gained a bad reputation over the past few years and it can be argued that this rebranding could be part of an effort to overhaul this.
🐦While scrolling through twitter, I came across mixed reactions about this whole thing with others calling it "the rubbishverse" , others were saying that it is just a marketing ploy to make people believe that Facebook is addressing it's issues while others like me were in full praise of the rather audacious move.
👨💻Few will disagree that Facebook is on a commitment to transform the society technologically and that they are early movers in mega trends like this.
☎️The metaverse isn't a new thing. It was first coined in the science fiction novel 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson in 1992. Metaverse doesn't exist yet but we are already seeing glimpses of it.
Other than Facebook declaring its commitment to develop a metaverse ecosystem, there have been other notable developments.
💡In 2006, Roblox was published which is an online game platform that allow users to program games and play games created by other users
💡In 2013, K-pop girl group, Girl's generation held one of the first virtual concerts that featured life-size holograms of the members projected onto a stage.
💡In 2014, VRChat launched which is an online virtual world platform that allows users to interact with others with user-created 3D avatars and worlds.
💡In 2019, Facebook Horizon was announced as a social VR world by Facebook although it is currently in a invite-only beta phase.
💡In 2021, South Korea announces the creation of a national metaverse alliance with the goal to build a unified national VR and AR platform.
🌍The metaverse is sort of a future-forward social hub and it perhaps gives us a clear indication that the future of tech doesn't just lie in VR or AR but in a mix of many devices accessing a shared online world.
🤔Most of us haven't noticed that we are already living virtually . If you are reading this, you have probably used Zoom, Twitter Spaces, played an online game. That is enough testament that you are already deep in your own metaverse!
💁♂️Facebook isn't the only big player in the metaverse game. Can it even be the only one? Where is Apple, Microsoft, Google and others? Your guess is right as mine. They all want a share. In May, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company is working to build an 'enterprise metaverse." Snapchat introduced custom avatars and filters that overlay the world with digital content. Apple is also venturing into the realm.
❔So the question is, will it become a reality?
2. The Zone of Genius
💡I bumped into this concept on Twitter recently through a tweet by Sahil Bloom and it really resonated with me. He says that the Zone of Genius is where your passions, interests and skills align.
"It's not about being top 1% at something—it's about the unique space where your relative strengths are accentuated (and relative weaknesses masked)."
He outlines four frameworks on how to identify your Zone of Genius
(i)💡Experiment & Collect such that you can reach the point where you can make an assessment of your strengths and passions.
(ii)💡Build Your Matrix whereby you can grade your skills into four 'quadrants':-
- High Competency, high Passion
- High Competency, low Passion
-Low Competency, high Passion
-Low Competency, Low Passion
(iii)💡Identify Your Zones - he outlines four zones to identify on your matrix
-zone of incompetence
-zone of neutrality
-zone of excellence
-zone of genius
(iv)💡Now that you have identified your zone of genius, execute
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🧠We all have our Zone of Genius. There are those things that we do and love that others deem as boring or as a chore. Those things that help us achieve a state of flow.
The psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihály describes this state very well;
"The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost"
😍Many things can help achieve this state. It may be writing, it may be creating Youtube videos, it may be podcasting, it may be reading psychology books. It doesn't really matter.
🧠As long as you are competent and passionate in that area, then that is your Zone of Genius and you should strive to operate in it.
Why? Operating in your Zone of Genus will increase your creativity, engagement and skill development.
✍️Quote of the week
"The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick
around long enough. It’s very important not to quit prematurely."
From the book 'Show Your Work!' By Austin Kleon
If you enjoyed this, feel free to share it with friends!
Have a NICE week, won't you?
Dennis