Arnold Schwarzenegger's new book, Keynote on Extended Reality, and my Kick-off for 2024
My new article covers Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest book, a thought from a Keynote I gave on Extended Reality, and some reflections on the new year.
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This MadeMeThink last week…
“Be Useful - Seven Tools for Life” by Arnold Schwarzenegger
As an Austrian, I have always been interested in Arnold Schwarzenegger's career. I know a lot of his content, be it films, documentaries, interviews, speeches or the like, so I know his most important theses for a good life.
Nevertheless, I read his book over the holidays and I have to say it was really worth it. It's an easy read that gives a lot of good ideas and is very motivating. Here are a few quotes from the book that made me think.
About having a clear vision for your life:
“If you can’t fully see your vision - if you can’t picture what success is and what it isn’t - it becomes very hard to assess opportunities (…) So why would you go through life to not aim for exactly what you want? (…) What do you have to lose? It’s not like dreaming up a big vision takes more energy than dreaming up a small one. Try it. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down your vision. Now cross that out and write it again, only bigger. See, the same amount of energy.”
About the hard work required to achieve your own vision:
“If there is one unavoidable truth in this world, it’s that there is no substitute for putting in the work. There is no shortcut or growth hack or magic pill that can get you around the hard work of doing your job well, of winning something you care about, or of making your dreams come true (…) working your ass off is the only thing that works 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the things worth achieving (…) To do great things that last, sacrifices are necessary.”
About the power of curiosity and why it's better to listen than to speak:
“My friends like to call me Forrest Gump because I’ve met every American president since Lyndon Johnson. Unlike Forrest, I didn’t find myself in the same room as these great historical figures by accident; I met them because I was famous. But I got to know them and develop relationships with them because I was curious. I asked them questions about themselves and their experiences. I asked for advice. And then I listened. Important, interesting, powerful people are drawn to those who ask good questions and listen well. When you’re curious and you’re humble enough to admit that you don’t know everything, people like that want to talk to you. They want to help you.”
And one last quote for my fellow Austrians that made me smile:
“Growing up in Austria, all forms of motivation involved negative reinforcement. Everything, always negative, from the earliest days of childhood. One of the most popular books of German fairy tales when I was growing up, for example, was called Der Struwwelpeter. It contains ten fables about how misbehaving children can ruin everybody’s lives with horrific consequences. At Christmastime, when St. Nicholas visits your house to bring presents to all the good boys and girls, he comes with a demon-like figure called Krampus with huge horns, whose role is to punish all the bad kids and to scare them straight. In small villages like Thal, the dads would go to one another’s houses on the Feast of St. Nicholas wearing a Krampus mask and scare the shit out of one another’s kids. My Krampus was our downstairs neighbor.”
Keynote on Extended Reality
This week I had the pleasure of giving a keynote to colleagues from my department on the subject of extended reality. The timing was perfect, as Apple has just announced the launch date (2nd February) for the Vision Pro.
In my talk, I discussed how developments such as extended reality, metaverse and AI are often mistakenly seen in isolation, whereas they are mutually beneficial. Big tech players are then often associated with just one of these technological developments, e.g. Meta with the metaverse, which is a misperception, as Meta is one of the major players in the field of AI, investing 30+ billions in 2023 in the build-out of their AI capacity (see slide)... 👀
Kick-off for 2024
The new year marks a time for reflection and planning for the future. Reflecting on 2023, I am impressed by the extent of learning and accomplishments achievable within a year. As 2024 begins, I am excited about the prospects of learning new skills, developing fresh ideas, and facing new challenges. I have initiated this year with a personal challenge: to learn as much Portuguese as possible in 100 days. What do you want to learn or do in 2024?
“A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier” - Kevin Kelly
Support your favourite Content Creators…
For the year 2024, I have set myself the goal of writing a weekly article for my publication MadeMeThink. At a time in which AI tools are on the rise, the relevance of personal publications is increasingly being questioned.
For content creators in general, the challenge to attract readers becomes even greater as AI technologies can digest and distribute content without them having to visit the original publications. So what is the purpose of a weekly newsletter? For me, it's about curating and commenting on content and providing my perspective on selected topics amidst the wealth of information.
Currently, my readership is modest, with around 600 people subscribing to the newsletter. This number hardly justifies the effort involved in producing the articles, so I often think about whether it is worth continuing.
However, I have committed myself to continuing at least until the summer and then making a new decision. I hope that I can increase my readership to 1000+ by then. I would really appreciate any support I can get to achieve this goal.
Disclaimer: The thoughts published in this publication are my personal opinion and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation for any type of action. I am not a financial expert. The startups or corporates highlighted in this publication have caught my interest. This mention is not an endorsement or recommendation to engage with them. Readers should always do their own research.