11 Mar My favourite problems – Feynman’s twelve

“My approach to problem-solving is to carry around a dozen interesting problems, and a dozen interesting solutions to unrelated problems, and eventually, I’ll be able to make connections.

You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state.”

Richard Feynman’s dozen interesting problems

These are the topics spinning in my brain

Many of the topics on my list cluster under the title BE PREPARED, with Climate, Parenting & preparing our young generations for the new nature of work bubbling to the top. This is my list circa March 2, 2022.  They are in no particular order of priority because they are continuously spinning in my brain like a helix. Some topics pop in and out over time as needed. Others, however, have consistently remained on this list since my teen years.

1. How can I make my communication tight? Can I get better at listening to my audience?  What scaffold and #habits do I need to put in place to consistently deliver my newsletter? #organize #WOP8
2. How can I make climate sexy instead of antagonistic? How do I phrase a sentence and craft a headline that invites my readers to explore climate as exciting, enticing, yet still urgent? How do I create harmony, community and cooperation around this issue? #climate #WOP8
3. #FoWNoW – What am I doing to move the needle from fear of the Future to a position of excitement and opportunity? How can I be of service to families so that #GenZ is better positioned to anticipate a dramatically different shape and Nature of Work. #FoW #families #longview
4. What does the economy look like in the new Intelligence era? How can we redefine Work? Is downtime our upskilling time? How do we define time?
5. Where are the dots coalescing? What signs and signals am I seeing about the future? What does 2050 look like? #longview
6. What can learning look like? Are there ways to communicate better mental models and critical thinking frameworks to today’s young learners? Where do we teach treading water – the management of the liminal space between two eras, two phases of life, for a generation that will straddle the old and the new? #futureofeducation
7. #2121 – How do I preserve a world full of nature to nurture my grandchildren and great-grandchildren #savetheearth #climate #travel #hope #family
8. 7generations – How do I offer the best of me and our world to my children and the generations that follow? How do I honour the #legacy of my ancestors? How do I protect and pass forward their dreams, hopes, sacrifices, faith that humans will continue and thrive? #family #climate #educate #connect #longview
9. The days are long but the years are short: What is the smallest piece of information I can offer a parent to give them support, hope and encouragement? #longview
10. What actions can I take to ensure that I am taking a #longevityjourney and that I have the vitality and energy to take on all these tasks? How do I make this as easy as a daily practice of writing and learning? #family
11. How do I strike a happy balance of staying involved in my adult children’s lives (parent as consultant)? What routines should I set in place so that I can stay involved and connected to them, and them to me? #family #connect #legacy
12. What actions can I take to towards #education equity? #FoW #futureofeducation

You can only join the dots looking back

As I journal about my unique list above, I am able to see a thread of my grandmother’s formative influence. I remember collecting leaves with her under this majestic banyan tree with its long swinging vines. The tree stands on the creek behind our ancestral home in Goa and outdates our home by hundreds of years. From her, I learned to love the red murram earth and nature in general, to hear stories of the family and friends that surround and support us.  A connection across time, place and people. #climate #7generations #longview #family #hope

Photo credit  Sharon Carneiro

• Link to other essays in this series:
  • Permission not to know it all