“Don’t be afraid to show up for big opportunities early!” - Futurist Jim Carroll
Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, based on 36 lessons from his 36 years as a solo entrepreneur, working as a nomadic worker in the global freelance economy. The series is unfolding here, and at pivot.jimcarroll.com.
At the ski club, I'm known as the guy who is first at the chairlift most mornings and at the golf course as the first tee guy. For a sound check for my keynotes? If they ask me to be there for a 7 am AV test, I'm there at 655AM. And yes, I'm the guy who is first in line for the flight.
Annoying? Maybe.
Rewarding? Definitely!
Whether it’s a fresh dump of powder on the slopes or a pristine morning on the Old Course, I've long thought that there is a profound advantage to being first. And looking back at my 36-year voyage, it seems I’ve applied this "First Chair" philosophy to every disruptive trend I’ve covered. If you want the best "runs" in the future, you can’t wait for the crowd to wake up; you have to be there when the light is just hitting the snow.
Being early isn't just about speed; it's about finding opportunity before everyone else does. And that becomes critical to your ability to pivot into a new career or business opportunity.
From a skiing metaphor, the Early Mover sees the terrain exactly as it is, before it’s been tracked out, analyzed to death, and smoothed over or turned to crud by the arrival of the masses. The Late Majority arrives when the value has already been lost - they are skiing in everyone else's ruts.
In my career, this meant diving into the Internet in the late 1980s, long before many other people became involved. This meant that when it expoided ontot he scence in 1993, I was already well prepared to be a guide to what it meant. My books and speaking career exploded as a result. Another opportunity? The arrival of open-source technologies and collaborative online communities involving such technology as Linux from the late 1990s, which led to my ability to predict the speed with which new ideas would emerge on new platforms.
It meant speaking, writing, and working with new emerging IoT (Internet of Things) technologies as early as 1998, resulting in predictions that came true a decade later. (There was an article about me around that time, titled "Is this guy crazy or just way ahead of his time?" I would go with the latter.)
Disruptive business models and new market entrants? I predicted the Tesla business model and car platform in 2006 in front of a bunch of auto engineers from legacy automotive companies - and they laughed at me. Fast forward, and I was dead right, and they are now losing the future. (I'm now, with confidence, predicting Tesla's ultimate demise.) AI? I was covering its profound impact as early as 2010, long before it became a boardroom buzzword.
If showing up early means showing up at 6 AM to "do the work" while the rest of the world is still hitting snooze, then I'm all in. Most of these Daily Inspiration posts are written during my first moments of clarity after 5 am, coffee in hand, mind abuzz with ideas.
Many people fear being "too early" because they worry about looking foolish or standing alone. But the reality might be that it means they miss out on the opportunities that others see.
The "Infinite Pivot" requires the stamina to be an early riser. You have to be willing to stand at the lift while no one else is there, because that’s the only way to get the best snow of the day.
The fact is, the freshest snow—and the most profound insights—belong to those who refuse to wait.
Futurist Jim Carroll believes that being ahead of your time is one of the greatest opportunities to move your career forward through continual pivots.