1 min readGet Over Tech Savvy

by Guy Gage | July 29, 2018 | Business

It used to be that those who explored, played with and used technology to its fullest were tabbed as tech savvy. They were willing to learn about and try new things, figuring out what it could do. And the label of “tech savvy” was born, preferable to being designated the resident geek.

Interestingly, over the past couple of decades, tech savvy has shifted from describing what a person is to what a person isn’t. People today use the moniker “tech savvy” to describe what they aren’t. “I’m not into all the technology stuff like some are. I’m just not tech savvy.”

This is unfortunate because technology is no longer an option. If you don’t use technology more than you do now, you will be left behind. And the pace of developing technology is so rapid that today’s delays are more adversely impactful than they were a couple of decades ago.

At a Leadership Conference I facilitated last week in Las Vegas, we recalled when we used to carry a wireless (flip) phone, a PDA (likely a Palm), an MP3 player and a laptop computer. You were really hot stuff—even tech savvy. Today, if you hauled around 4 devices when one will do, you are either channeling Rip Van Winkle or just demonstrating poor judgment, both of which don’t show well.

Not only that, but the pace of innovation is crazy fast. The centuries between the abacus to the mainframe is very different from decades to transition from the adding machine to the calculator or years to the advanced functionality of a spreadsheet. The changes are so quick that it’s easy to be left behind. No matter how good you are with a slide rule, you are no match to a cell formula.

Give up the label of not being tech savvy. Get yourself in the game and apply the tools you have today because the distance between the today’s technologies and tomorrow’s innovations are months away. Not using technology is synonymous with being left behind.

What is the first pressing technology you need to use that you have been deferring, delaying, ignoring or relying on others to do for you? The reasons no longer matter. You’re already behind and putting it off any longer will only hurt you. So today, execute your first move and keep going.

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