“The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”
—Peter Diamandis

Peter Diamandis created the Abundance 360 community and event as a place for “entrepreneurs passionate about generating extraordinary wealth while creating a world of abundance.” I’ve been grateful to attend for several years now, and always walk away inspired to learn how the world is being shaped by purposeful, passionate entrepreneurs. And while much of the technology presented at Abundance 360 is not in my wheelhouse, I trust Peter’s vast expertise on these topics and enjoy passing on as much as I can to others.

(If you’re not familiar with influential entrepreneur, futurist, and best-selling author Peter Diamandis, three good places to start are this article, this short bio and video, and his TED talk, Abundance is our Future.)

Tony Robbins told the Abundance 360 audience, leaders anticipate the future while followers react to it. As if driving home the point about a future being rapidly shaped by new technologies, Tony spoke to us live by hologram; Arht Media’s “HumaGram,” allows a presenter and audience to see and interact with each other in real time as if they were physically present.

Today, I’m sharing “cliff notes” from Abundance 360 to help you anticipate the future—a future that is changing at a rapidly increasing pace—including tips on what you can do to embrace and benefit from changes rather than find yourself left behind in the dust. Whether you find new technologies and their disruption of the status quo overwhelming, exciting, or scary, change is coming our way! Here are 10 areas of opportunity to watch and what you can do prepare for YOUR prosperous future:

#1:  Communication.

By late 2018, 5G internet is coming from carriers such as Verizon and AT&T. How fast will 5G be? You’ll be able to download a full-length movie in about one minute, and the entire connected world will have gigabyte connections to the internet.

What can you do to meet this opportunity? Digitize all you can! Make everything provide-able in digital form when possible, such as ebooks, audios, videos and services. For example, the country of Estonia now offers digital citizenship at e-resident.gov.ee, where anyone wishing to begin a global business within an EU environment can apply to be a digital citizen. ID cards are digital, of course, and you’ll see in a moment how Estonia is tying their new citizenship platform with the next trend…

#2:  Capital.

If you think cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are just for those on the fringes, think again! Coinbase opens more accounts now than Schwab per quarter, and has more total accounts than Schwab.  ($13 million vs $10.6 million per a 2017 report picked up by CNBC, and the gap is growing.) Kodak has announced a digital rights management system for photographers using the blockchain, along with its own cryptocurrency, Kodakcoin. And Estonia (the country where you can apply for digital citizenship) now has now proposed its own cryptocurrency, to be named Estcoin.

Increasingly, whatever you can do with cash, you can do with cryptocurrency. Purchase food? Check. Travel? Check! And for stores and platforms such as Starbucks, Best Buy and Amazon that don’t yet accept bitcoin (Amazon has recently registered a range of cryptocurrency domains, so that may change soon), you can exchange bitcoin for gift certificates at Gyft.com.

How can you capitalize on this trend? Think about what you can “tokenize” and open a currency wallet in order to buy a small amount of cryptocurrency just to learn, not to invest. You can also build an app for the blockchain, go to www.blockv.io to learn more. (We’ll have more information about both the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in future weeks… stay tuned!)

#3:  Energy.

Dean Kamen, as well as Peter Diamandis, delivered exciting news about developments in energy at Abundance 360. Kamen is a modern-day Albert Einstein who created the Segway people mover and the Slingshot water purifier, which can run on any fuel source—including solar—purifying enough water from any source to meet the needs of 300 people per year. The cost of solar continues to drop, and the quote of the day was “storage is the new solar.” New technologies have made harnessing energy cheaper and easier, and now the focus is on how to store it as efficiently as possible.

What can you do? Research how to get solar for your home. Options such as solar rooftops and solar walls can provide all of the energy a home needs. Also keep an eye out in the next year for www.gridplus.io, which seeks to increase the efficiency of green energy through the adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs).

#4:  Healthcare.

 Longevity is a constant focus for this crowd. Sequencing the human genome has reduced in price from $25,000 down to $5000 at HumanLongevity.com. This and other technologies are transforming healthcare from reactive to proactive, providing insights and recommendations to better health, better functioning, and longer lives. After the conference, it was just announced that Amazon, Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway are partnering up to create an independent company that will initially focus on “technology solutions” to provide “high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable cost,”  according to NBC.

To try some of the new technologies that are disrupting healthcare, go to Viome.com to get a kit that will analyze the health of your “microbiome”—microorganisms in your gut—to give you a specific nutritional and supplement plan to improve your health, immunity, and vitality. Or you can get an OuraRing that monitors and analyzes your sleep patterns, heart rate variability, temperature and more, delivering personalized recommendations for optimal functioning.

#5:  Transportation.

Expect major disruptions in transportation as we know it in the next five or so years. In urban areas, car ownership will be replaced by self-driving uber cars as car ownership declines significantly. And we’ll likely see the first hyperloop systems built, using breakthrough technology for mass transit. The hyperloop is sort of like a “train-in-a-tube” that travels as fast as commercial airliners—and much more efficiently! Watch this short video for more.

If you live in a city and want to buy a car, do it in the next few years because after that, values will start to decline unless you can contribute it to some shared community and make it be a self-driving uber car. (I know, that sounds extreme, yet that is where the trends are quickly heading.)

#6:  Robotics and Drones.

Camera drones are beginning to rise in popularity. Amazon’s Prime Air is beginning to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less using delivery drones. Robots are being utilized increasingly in manufacturing. And check out Savioke.com for a robot that delivers things to your hotel door!

Robots and drones present a challenge (and an opportunity) for workers who do repetitive work. Increasingly, you want to be developing yourself and acquiring training and learning to use new technology in your field, whether that’s 3D printing for jewelry designers, drones for photographers, online learning platforms for teachers or new healthcare technology. Receive training on in-demand technologies from platforms such as Udacity.com. Learn to be data driven. Be willing to learn and do new things, and be willing to unlearn. And whatever you do, focus on creating more value for customers, clients, colleagues and employers.

#7:  AI and Computation.

Artificial intelligence is “driving” the autonomous car trend (get it?) as well as transforming other industries. Technology from Nvidea.com will be turning regular cars into self-driving cars. Hirevue.com is reducing the mistakes we humans make in hiring people.

Quantum computers will become available to everyone via the cloud in late 2018, which will allow many industries to multiply their results. Rethink the game you are in, starting with a clean sheet of paper.

#8:  Space and Physics.

A single asteroid has $5 million of materials on it, according to Peter Diamandis, through asteroid mining might not be for everyone!

Other technologies transforming more “everyday” industries include 3D printers from DWSsystems that enable rapid manufacturing in plastic and metal, and JustForAll.com, which creates healthy, sustainable food solutions using nutrient-rich mung beans (a legume traditionally grown in Asia) and cutting-edge food technologies that can transform it into “scrambled eggs” and many other dishes.

#9:  Human Capital.

Diamandis speaks with excitement about the “5 billion minds” coming online as people in countries around the world connect with the internet. As he points out, the internet doesn’t just bring information to people, it connects PEOPLE to each other and to new ideas and technology. And as new people with new ideas connect online, our human capital will explode in ways we can’t even imagine! (Watch Peter Diamandis’s TEDx LA talk on “Imagining the Future: The Transformation of Humanity” for more on this.)

As more people contribute, we’ll expand our ability to solve the world’s biggest problems. Just ask Dean Kamen. Currently, he’s training kids to collaborate and solve problems through robot-building team competitions. As Kamen says, “We are not using kids to build robots…it’s never been about the robots. We are using robots to build kids.”

Kamen went on to explain the need to transform education. We grow up studying the history of hating and killing others, but what if we grew up studying the future and learning to communicate with and trust others? Math, physics, and science are all the same language, he noted.

Want to help your kids? Check out AltSchool.com for a new technology-abled education platform, and FirstInspires.com for more about the robot-building (kid-building) competitions.

#10:  Your Evolving Purpose.

Tony Robbins instructed us to keep asking, “How do people get/have meaning?” People get “juiced” when they contribute. He urged us to keep seeking our “massively transformative purpose” (MTP), adding that learning resiliency helps us find meaning. Dan Sullivan observed that great leaders explain WHY and ask WHO (not just what) can help us accomplish our purpose.

Learn resiliency so you can find meaning, added Robbins. And since many people find meaning in autonomy, if you feel trapped on the proverbial mouse wheel, plan an escape. Books like The Gig Economy and Reimagining Work can help. And for personalized coaching in finding your passion, reach out to Tammi Brannan (my talented sister) at InstinctiveLife.com—she helps people discover what they were born to do!

Facing the Future

The bottom line is that we cannot solve problems with linear thinking. Styrofoam cups were a marvel when first invented, now they are a nuisance. Horse manure in the streets as a problem wasn’t solved by cleaning it up, it was solved by cars.

Are you scared about a loss or excited by the gain? Optimism is not a prediction of the future but a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We can clearly see the dangers, we can NOT clearly see the opportunities. Pay attention to news that proves abundance, not the news that talks about scarcity because in many cases, the latter is incomplete.

Be like Columbus… he set sail and didn’t have any idea what was out there. Be humble so you can keep learning and discovering.

Just like with fax machines, Facebook and Google, the value is in the network. Be willing to take the M and Y (my) out of MONEY and see how we can work together as ONE towards abundance. Put your attention, your energy, your contacts, your abilities, and your self into the community, work, or service you love. Become a valuable resource, and your future is guaranteed to be prosperous!

I hope you have fun following some links and discovering some new things! We’re your Partners for Prosperity, and we’re always here to help you with your finances as well as your financial thinking.