World of Automation, People on Autopilot

The night after my last day at EMC I wrote a blog article that remains unpublished. Maybe some day I will share it. But today I feel it is a little too personal to release to the public. Its theme centered on a life on autopilot. Living taking each step following the momentum of the previous one. I realized that night that part of my life for many years was on autopilot. Then I thought of the flash crash of 2010.

Flash Crash 2010On 6 May 2010 the US stock market plunged 9% (over 1000 points) and recovered those losses within minutes. $1.3 trillion in market value vanished and then reappeared in less time than it takes to use the restroom. The stock market was in a death spiral driven by a emotionless autopilot.

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The Cycle of Hype

The last few weeks have been fairly emotional.  Walking away from a great job, spending a couple weeks relaxing on a warm beach, starting an extraordinarily challenging intensive Chinese course.  Most days I have rode a giddy high.  Some days I second-guessed my decisions.  I know things will be a lot of fun for at least a month or two.  But they then may get bad.  This is the cycle of hype.  Understanding this repeating cycle is instructive for managing expectations and moods.

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