"Be spectacularly misfocused and gloriously distracted!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, “25 Things I’ve Learned That Will Carry Me Into 2025.” He is putting this together based on his 30-year career as a futurist, trends, and innovation expert, advising leaders of some of the world’s most prestigious organizations on how to align to a faster future. He intends for the series to provide valuable guidance to others eager to learn how to move through a year that promises to be volatile, unpredictable, and full of uncertainty. Each day, the post goes out on multiple mailing lists, social media networks, and to the Website https://2025inspiration.jimcarroll.com
So let me be gloriously distracted for a moment.
Fun fact. 25 years ago today, at around midnight, this particular book of mine largely became irrelevant. Fun times!
Gloriously distracted? How about a YouTube video? This is something I put together yesterday - it's a 3-minute clip of the 275 Daily Inspiration posts that I wrote this year. That's a lot of insight into the future, trends, creativity, innovation, and disruption! There are so many they barely fit the soundtrack!
The most popular of all those posts this year? This one! 'Every single trend is both an existential threat and a transformative opportunity at the same moment in time." Read it here.
Gloriously distracted? How about this list that I came across yesterday: 52 Things I Learned in 2024 from a fellow named Kent Hendricks? It's a wonderful list of absolutely fascinating, random, and unrelated stuff - and it speaks to me! I find #5 particularly helpful and will take that into the gym with me in the future!
With that in mind, and since this post is about being gloriously distracted, here's my year-end wrap-up list - a series of random thoughts about cool things from the year!
24 Highlights for 2024 by Futurist Jim Carroll
1. Ireland! After literal decades of flying over the country with European and Middle East trips, I finally got to visit the country not once, but twice, both involving keynotes in Dublin. My wife and I had the chance to explore the region - and notably, I had the chance to visit the home of my ancestors, Kilmacthomas in County Waterford. Magical!
2. The YMCA! I keynoted the national conference of this organization in 2015 but finally joined it as a member in early November. For almost two decades, I worked out at a local gym with a trainer, and then the pandemic hit. I built a home gym, but finally found it limited - I needed to get out! I have absolutely zero regrets and am using the time wisely. I'm using a wonderful exercise app as my trainer - Fitbod. Check it out! (This is some pretty impressive data for Christmas week!)
3. A car accident. Not a highlight of the year, but it certainly was a major event. My Tesla got hit and had $24,000 of damage, but I got to use the video the car captured automatically in a talk I did about the potential for AI-based video fraud for an insurance conference! How's that for lemonade from lemons?
4. Niche Farming! I visited a vanilla bean farm! My wife and I ventured to one on the Big Island. The Hawaiian Vanilla Company spoke to me deeply about ideas involving innovation and reinvention, and so it was a wonderful visit. I thrive on visiting unique places and seeing unique stories, and this was one of the best.
5. Frogs in Texas! In 2004, I spoke at the Woodlands Resort in Dallas at an event - and at the location, the idea for my book, What I Learned from Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward Thinking Innovation was launched. I was booked at the same location again in 2024, and it was magical to be in the exact spot on the road where the idea for the book first emerged. I wrote the story about the visit here.
6. An eclipse! I finally saw the full totality, and it was truly mind-boggling. I'd been watching the weather for weeks, and 24 hours before finally realizing that the area around Sherbrooke, Quebec, would be one of the few areas in North America with guaranteed clear skies. I contacted a buddy who owns a private plane, and he agreed to get me there. Thank you!
7. A hole in one! No, I didn't get one (came close) but I was with someone who had one. We didn't see it go in - it was a great shot, but we thought it went beyond the green. It was a pretty cool moment when he found his ball!
8. Taylor Swift. I became a Swiftie! One of my daughters-in-law is a huge fan, and I gradually got drawn into the goings-on with the tour. I did everything I could to try to get her a ticket to one of the shows but ultimately failed. That said, I've followed the tour and the artists because, to me, it's one of the most compelling innovation stories of all time.
9. A family reunion! We brought together over 80 relatives from my mom's side for a wonderful event in Nova Scotia - my son-the-drone-pilot captured the moment. Also magical! That's Uncle Jim's rock in the background - so much of my youth was spent there.
10. Ketchup. It was wild to have an event in Texas and meet a fellow who also shares the story of the upside-down ketchup bottle in his keynotes. Synchronicity! I wrote about that magical discovery here:
11. AI and Crime. My last event of the year had me speaking to the RCMP - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - about AI. The feedback I received back is the type of thing I thrive on: "I wanted to take a moment and thank you once again for delivering an exceptional keynote at the Data Summit. Your keynote brilliantly highlighted the rapid pace of change and emphasized the importance of adapting to stay ahead."
As a speaker, you live for this type of feedback, and it was a wonderful way to close out my last event for the year.
12. The Club Championships! I dared to go to the annual event for my home golf club. I've never done anything competitive in my life, so this was a big step for me. I came next to dead last, but in doing so, I learned a lot about how you win by losing.
13. Node.js: I've been reading a lot over the last few years as to how AI can be used to write computer code, and in the last few months, I've taken the plunge. I've been using Claude.AI from Anthropic to learn (if you can call it that) how to quickly put together applications based on the node.js framework. There is some powerfully deep stuff happening here, and this pathway is allowing me to. not only talk about AI from a theoretical perspective but to be a part of it.
14. YPO Houston! I was brought in for a complex, 3-hour talk for a group of retired CEOs, to focus on AI. The event went so well that I was quickly booked for THE major senior YPO event of the year for CEO.Org in New York. That's when you know you've hit a home run!
15. Into the "belly of the beast!" I was booked by the Canadian Petrochemical Association for a talk - a group that is not necessarily open to the trends defining their future (renewables, batteries, and such.) I put in a great effort and told a great story, and though some were unenamoured with my talk (closed minds, anyone?), I came away knowing that I put in a worthy effort!
16. Bouncing back. I almost gave up writing my Daily Inspiration on a certain day in November. I was shell-shocked by what unfolded and quickly went through the 7 Stages of Election Grief in a matter of hours. I did 3 Daily Inspiration posts that day, quickly coming back to my commitment to this daily series.
17. The sunrise! Commitments? I continued my commitment to trying to see the sunrise in splendour most mornings, either out for the first tee time at the golf course or with a morning walk. I was often rewarded with moments like this:
18. Giving back. Throughout the year, both my wife and I continued to be heavily involved with a local charity, Events for Life. I've written about this group which provides day programs for special needs young adults. This year, I continued to do a lot of tech support, rebuilt the Web site, and more. What I've learned is that all you need to do if you have a bad day, is know that you can find a good day by seeing the smile on their faces!
19. My biological grandad! This year, someone in the UK read my 2017 story about learning how my dad's father died in a stunt motorcycle accident in 1925 - and gave me some more details on what happened. I filled out the story in my blog post about this remarkable fellow - with this photo of him standing on the "Silo-Drome" in which he performed his stunts. What an ancestry I have!
20. Retirement! I hit retirement age but didn't retire, and have no active plans to do so. I keep writing books, do 2 or 3 keynotes a month, and am having a wonderful time of it. My wife travels with me on all of my trips, making this semi-retirement all that more special. Here we are at an event in Hawaii earlier this year!
21. Being Unique. Book #41 will be out before book #40! Being Unique is a project that I've been working on, off and on, throughout the year. It's now in the editing stage with my wife and business partner and is now delayed due to the active work on book #41, Embracing Mediocrity. Such is life!
22. Another major client! I was booked, confirmed, and then postponed for an event in the UAE by the Office of the Prime Minister. I'm thrilled to know that I will be going back in less than 3 weeks to headline a major event organized by the office.
23. Customized content! With this event, I worked hard to pull together some pretty fantastic content. I've always been proud of my ability to do the work, put in the effort, and develop very specific, heavily researched material for my talks. I'm particularly proud of the material in this slide deck and will share it later on in January. Onwards!
24. Mediocrity! It's wild to finish off this by being into day 13 of pulling together a really fun book and knowing it might come out in but a matter of weeks. Here's the status yesterday, as my wife and I worked to organize it. Remember - this project began on December 17!
Onwards.
What were the most common words in my Daily Inspiration posts in 2024? These!
- Future
- Innovation
- Change
- Unique
- Ideas
- Action
- Mindset
- Growth
- Opportunity
- Imagination
Last but not least, here are my thoughts on the topic of today's post - on being spectacularly misfocused and gloriously distracted. My mind has wandered with this post, and I think that's great. With that being the case, here's a radical thought for you - what if your wandering mind isn't a bug, but a feature?
What if those moments when you're "spectacularly misfocused" (like I have been in this post so far) are your brain's way of unleashing creativity? Let me share some insights that challenge our conventional wisdom about focus and productivity.
- You should embrace the power of "glorious distraction" - We've all been conditioned to believe that laser-like focus is the holy grail of productivity. But here's the thing: some of your best ideas might come when you're "furiously focused, but gloriously distracted." Give your mind permission to wander. Those seemingly random neural connections? That's where innovation lives.
- Turn your curiosity overdrive into a superpower - I've spent decades studying innovation, and I'll tell you this: the most successful innovators I've met are relentlessly curious. They don't just stick to their lane - they're constantly exploring, questioning, and connecting dots that others don't even see. Never apologize for putting your curiosity into overdrive. It's not a distraction; it's your competitive advantage.
- Stop feeling guilty about "wasted time" - Here's a secret that successful innovators know: there's no such thing as truly wasted time. Those rabbit holes you go down? That random topic deep dive at 2 AM? They're filling your creative reservoir. The next big breakthrough might come from that "useless" article you read last week about ancient Mesopotamian farming techniques.
- Embrace your inner multipotentiality - If you're someone who can't stick to just one interest, congratulations! You're not unfocused - you have the trait of multipotentiality. Your "excessive levels of creativity" combined with what others might call a "lack of focus" is your superpower. Those diverse interests? They're the raw materials for breakthrough thinking.
- Make space for daydreaming - Your mind wandering isn't a sign of laziness - it's your imagination flexing its muscles. When you catch yourself daydreaming, pay attention. Those idle thoughts often point to your deepest passions and untapped potential. Your subconscious is trying to tell you something - listen to it.
Waste more time! I've worked with organizations worldwide, and I'll tell you this: the future belongs to the gloriously distracted, the spectacularly misfocused, and those brave enough to embrace their wandering minds. The next time someone tells you to "focus," remember this: sometimes the most direct path to innovation is the wonderfully winding one. In an age of AI and automation, our uniquely human ability to make unexpected connections and explore uncharted territory isn't a weakness - it's our greatest strength. So go ahead, let your mind wander. Chase those offbeat ideas. Question everything.
The future needs your "spectacular misfocus" more than ever.
Remember: Ideas without action are empty, but action without exploration is blind. Find your dynamic balance between focus and distraction. And most importantly, stay open to serendipity - because in today's world of accelerating change, the most valuable discoveries often come when we're gloriously off-course.
Futurist Jim Carroll lets his mind wander, often without intent.