Guy Reams (00:01.102)
This is day 180, the process of realizing value. When we first discover something of potential value, we go through a series of distinct phases. This is important to recognize because we often find ourselves in situations where understanding this process matters. You might encounter a new innovation that seems helpful in your life. You might be trying to sell a new innovation to a potential buyer.
You might even be responsible for implementing a new innovation at your company. The ability to diffuse innovation into our lives and the lives of others has become a core skill in today's new world. New innovations are arriving at such a rapid pace that we would all benefit from becoming more adept at how these tools are adopted and then integrated. I've noticed four reoccurring phases when someone is exposed to a new innovation. Awareness,
frustration, exploration, and then finally commitment. To explain these four phases, I'll use a relevant example, integrating a large language model or an LLM into your daily life. So awareness. You might become aware that a tool like an LLM such as ChatGBT could potentially improve some part of your life. You've heard the buzz, maybe even seen a few impressive demos. You're unsure of what's real and what's just hype, but it catches your attention.
So you decide to try it. You sign up for a subscription or maybe explore a tool like Canva, Evernote, Gmail, whatever, something that has AI features baked in. You dabble around. And now you can officially claim that you're quote unquote using AI. But then frustration comes. You forget how to use it effectively. When you do try, the results are not quite right and they're never consistent.
Sometimes the output is off base or even absurd. The small improvements offered by your favorite tools don't seem to match the sweeping promises that you've heard. You start to question whether this innovation is really going to move the needle for you at all. Then, if you survive that, you then get to exploration. So that means assuming you haven't given up, you begin to explore more deeply. You consider that maybe a general purpose tool just won't cut it.
Guy Reams (02:25.112)
You'll need something more tailored to your work. You start researching custom solutions, perhaps even think about taking a course or maybe even hiring help. But there's hesitation. You don't want to sink time and money into something that might not pay off. So you begin exploring cautiously, looking for just the right fit. If you survive that stage, then you get to commitment. Eventually you cross this threshold.
You've experimented enough to see that with the right configuration and focus, these tools can deliver serious value. You then commit. You develop a strategy. You might even hire support. You restructure workflows. You now go all in because now you understand the risk and you believe the reward is worth it. It seems only those who reach this commitment stage experience the full value of an innovation.
LLMs included. This appears to be the success pattern for adopting any new tool, with plenty of drop-off points along the way. I find this framework useful. In my line of work, I encounter new innovations all the time. Tools that could prove, could improve my personal productivity and my business operation. But without a strategy, chasing innovations can easily become a distraction.
Ignore them completely and I risk missing out on valuable savings in time and cost. Knowing the basic path of full adoption helps me assess where I am in the process and whether it's worth continuing or not. This matter is now more than ever. In just the past year, I've changed the way I trade, read email, search the internet, create and edit images, track finance, and process important online content. Each of these transformations went beyond just dabbling,
They involve deep integration into my daily routine, and that only happened because I followed the full journey all the way to commitment. I'm actually grateful for it. The time savings have been actually substantial. In some cases, the financial benefits have more than paid for the tools themselves. Of course, I also have a graveyard of failed innovation, subscriptions that I've never used, tools that have been abandoned halfway.
Guy Reams (04:46.221)
I've learned that my relationship with innovation can't be casual. In modern life, we are constantly surrounded by software, a swirling vortex of apps. Being deliberate about how we adopt these tools and understanding the stages we go through can help us avoid wasting both time and money. I think this is something seriously worth reflecting on.