Change Blindness
Has your phone ever surfaced a photo from 2 years ago that made you stop and go: "Wow! That was ME? Damn, that brings back memories." Those memories might even remind you of how different you were from who you are today. New city, new job, new friends, new partner.
It's a strange mix of nostalgia and surprise.
The “Memories” part of my Apple Photos app reminds me just how much has changed in the past 2 years: I got married, met my parents-in-law for the first time (on a 100-mile backpacking trip), launched several businesses, moved across the country to Austin, and spent 6 months working abroad.
I didn't know how to quite describe this feeling until I came across this article by Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and technology analyst. He wrote about how drastically AI has improved in just 21 months, catching most people completely unaware.
But what caught my attention wasn't just the tech and societal implications - it was how perfectly it mirrored our own lives. Mollick calls this phenomenon "Change Blindness" - our inability to perceive gradual but significant changes over time.
Just as AI capabilities have transformed dramatically in less than two years, your life and career have likely undergone remarkable changes that you may not fully appreciate.
The irony is that the more we achieve, the less we are aware of our own growth.
Think about it. In the same span of time that AI went from generating abstract otter pictures to creating Pixar-level animations, you've probably:
Overcome challenges you once thought insurmountable.
Picked up skills you didn't even know you needed.
Formed relationships that have shaped your worldview.
Made decisions that’s set you on an entirely new path.
Yet caught up in the day-to-day hustle, it's easy to feel like you're standing still. The truth is, you're evolving just as quickly as the technology around us - we're just not wired to see it clearly.
This insight has some pretty powerful implications. By learning to recognize and appreciate these changes, you may be able to find more motivation in your current trajectory, make more informed decisions about your future, and cultivate a deeper sense of fulfillment in your journey…which honestly may not be so straightforward at times.
What aspects of your life do you think might have changed more than you realize in the past 2 years? What do these changes reveal about what motivates you and how you make decisions? You can use these insights to craft two side-by-side “Old Me” and “New Me” Epiphany Maps that represent who you were before and who are now or want to be in the future.
Feel free to share them with me.
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