Pearls of Wisdom

I asked ChatGPT about the future – I was startled by what it said

People in my LinkedIn feed have been wetting themselves over the realistic conversations they’ve been having with a cutting-edge chatbot called ChatGPT. 

Released at the end of November, ChatGPT is the latest creation from the non-profit OpenAI Inc., and it’s WAAAAYYYY more impressive than any chatbot you’ve encountered while trying to do your banking online.

Scarily so.

The Telegraph: We tested the latest AI – and here's why you should be worried

Financial Times: ChatGPT is fluent, clever a…

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Why resilience won't give you mojo

Read Time: 3.5 minutes

The economy’s going to hell. Technology is creating as many problems as it’s fixing. And we seem to be on the brink of World War III.

What's the most popular antidote being promoted for all the uncertainty this creates? Resilience.

It's the idea that you can recover quickly from setbacks, grit your teeth, and move on. 

Sounds pretty good, especially if you're struggling through a difficult period.

But while resilience can be useful in some situations, it’s by no mea…

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Your Brain’s Love-Hate Relationship with the Future

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How, as an organisational psychologist, did I become so fascinated with the future?

It’s because thinking about the future is the most important thing we do. Life is really just a flow of decisions, and every decision requires us to consider the future.

By some measures, thinking about the future is ALL a healthy brain does. Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that the human mind isn’t for thinking, but rather for budgeting. Its primary mission remains what it has been for millions of yea…

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The Ultimate Guide To Hiring The Right Coach

A coach?

A story

James* seemed to be doing OK. When I met him at a business networking group, he appeared confident in himself and the small consultancy he owned.

As I got to know him, however, he shared with me the challenges he was facing. His business was feast or famine – he was either stressed out trying to find clients, or stressed out trying to service them. The pressure was taking its toll on his family life and his health. He wanted to stabilise the business so he could focus on what he liked …

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Do “values” and “purpose” mean anything for my career?

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Someone once stopped me in the street and asked what the “meaning” of my life was.
I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t even really understand the question. There just seemed something very pretentious about the word “meaning,” and since then I’ve discovered a whole family of such pretentious words including “vision,” “values” and “purpose.”

They all seem to aspire to something so other-worldly that they couldn’t possibly relate to me.

We could dismiss them as by-produc…

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How to find a new career

Surveys conducted recently show that between 30% and 60% of people in the UK have thought about making changes to their careers a result of the pandemic.

That’s a lot of people who have begun thinking about whether there’s more to life than what they are doing at the moment.

It seems stability can lull us into acceptance of the status quo, while chaos stimulates us to question what we’re doing and why.


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This article looks at how you go about finding a…

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The one question you MUST answer before switching jobs

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In 2020 I bought a boat.

I thought it would be cool. After all, you can see other people cruise up and down the Thames sipping champaign and having a grand time.

In 2021 I sold the boat, and I probably should have sold it sooner. Because while I thought I had something in common with those other people apparently enjoying themselves on the water, I actually didn’t. Boating was important to them, not to me.

It’s easy to get confused about what’s important to us, becaus…

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Uncertainty: Friend and Foe

“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, Infinite Possibilities open up in your life.”
— Eckhart Tolle

I’m hoping you, like me, didn’t feel the need to stockpile toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic. While it’s still a matter of research why the toilet paper supply chain became the focus of our anxieties, it was also an understandable response to the uncertainty that accompanies unexpected existential threats.

Our lives are an endless stream of d…

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From Career Confusion to Clarity in 5 Steps

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If you’re unsure where your career should go next, you’re not the only one.

A recent survey by Randstad UK found that almost 25% of UK workers were planning on changing jobs in the next few months. But a lot of people are struggling to find direction in their careers, and risk moving from one unsatisfactory job to another.

With so much advice available and so many choices, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and worried about making the wrong move.

But all these …

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