Perhaps hesitation about "continuing" is increasing due to generative AI

As the saying goes, "persistence is power," "continuing something" is important for personal growth and acquiring skills, isn't it?

Even Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers achieved the feat of being a two-way player precisely because he accumulated an incredible amount of persistence.
Of course, even without such an extreme example, there are views that can only be seen after continuing something for a long time.

For example, if you keep studying English diligently, one day you might suddenly be able to understand lines in a movie, or if you keep writing a blog, your writing might become refined before you know it.

However, it is difficult to continue anything.

When I think about why it is difficult to continue, there are various internal and external factors, but I think "hesitation about continuing" is also a major factor.

"Is it really okay to keep doing the same thing like this?",
"Won't this skill become obsolete in the near future?"
When such hesitation arises, motivation to continue drops immediately.
You lose sight of the meaning of "continuing", don't you?

And in the modern age, I thought that giving up due to this hesitation might be happening more easily, so I will talk about that this time.

✅ The abundance of choices makes one hesitate about "continuing"

In the first place, why does "hesitation about continuing" arise?

One of the reasons is the abundance of choices in modern society.

For example, in ancient times when there were no electric lights, people had nothing to do at night but look at the night sky (that might be a bit of an exaggeration...), so many people kept observing the movements of the moon and stars, which had the aspect of leading to the acquisition of advanced astronomy.

Compared to that, in modern society, there are infinitely many choices.
If you have a smartphone or a computer, you can do so many things that I really cannot express in this blog.
You can write a blog or draw, you can create videos, you can have English conversations with native speakers, or you can surf the internet to collect information.
It is an era where you can acquire various skills if you try.

Even if there are many choices like that, the resources you can use are inevitably limited.
Then, even if you have started something, if you think, "Is this really what I want to do most?" or "Is this really suited for me?", there will be times when it is difficult to decide whether you should continue.

For example, even with the single act of "writing a blog," it contains many choices within it, doesn't it?

Is it really best to keep writing on a platform like note, or is a personal blog like WordPress better, or perhaps another platform is more suited for me, or in the first place, is there another self-investment better than writing a blog... such hesitation arises.

It can be said that because it is an "era without correct answers," the abundance of choices has conversely become a factor that hinders continuation.

✅ Judgment criteria when in doubt: Will, Can, Must

Then, when thinking about "what should I continue?", how should I judge?

In such cases, I think it is good to use the "Will, Can, Must" framework often used in career design as a judgment criterion.

• Will (Intention)… Do you have the motivation? Do you feel it is fun?

• Can (Ability)… Do you have the time or skills? Can you continue in terms of environment?

• Must (Necessity)… Is it socially required? Does it lead to growth or results?

I think it's easier to clarify the "reasons to continue" if you satisfy these three axes.

In other words, if you choose something that is in your area of expertise, is something you want to do, and is either needed by someone else or offers the potential for self-growth, you can lower the barriers to continuing and are less likely to lose sight of the significance of doing so.

For example, while I don't make a living from writing in my main job, I basically like to write (though of course there are times when it's tough...), I consider it a strength because of experiences where my writing was evaluated at university and in my work, and I also feel personal growth through writing.
That's why I've been able to keep up my blog to some extent.

✅ Generative AI is shaking the "criteria for continuing"

Having written this far, I realized that among these, "Can" and "Must" are perhaps being shaken by the emergence of generative AI.

① The difficulty of "Can" is increasing

From the perspective of "Can," generative AI is clearly raising the level of skills required of humans.

For example, even if you were good at English and wanted to further develop your translation skills, DeepL and ChatGPT already provide almost perfect translations, so the range in which humans can excel is narrowing.
The level of proficiency required is rising, such as for reading finer nuances or performing highly specialized translations.

If that happens, I think it will become a barrier to continuing, especially for beginners.

This is true not only for translation, but also for writing, illustration, programming, and video.

Regarding blog posts, current generative AI has a lightness that tends toward generalities, making differentiation easy, but it's impossible to predict how long this situation will last.
If you start thinking, "Can I beat the text that generative AI will spit out in five years?", it might have quite an impact on your motivation.

② "Must" is becoming uncertain

Also, the skills required themselves are becoming fluid.

For example, "information organization" type writing is already becoming a situation where it can be replaced by ChatGPT's Deep Research.
As a result, some consulting and planning-related work is being replaced, and the types of skills required for such work are shifting.

In this way, depending on the skill, some necessity is lost, while others become newly necessary.
When that happens, it becomes easy for hesitation about "what should I continue?" to arise.

✅ How should we perceive "continuing"?

This has turned into a somewhat negative discussion, so I will think about what to do in such an opaque situation.
There are two perspectives.

① Periodic inventory of continuation

It becomes important to periodically look back on "why am I continuing this?".

If it is a skill that is easily replaced by AI, think about "what is essentially important".
For example, if it's a blog, even if AI can just stream information, expressing your own thoughts, feelings, and what you want to convey cannot be replaced by AI in the future.

Therefore, I believe that if you are conscious of those parts, you will be less likely to lose the significance of continuing, and conversely, there are phases where it will become painful if you are not.

② Value "Will" (what you want to do)

In the end, the most important thing for 'continuing' is 'whether it is fun or not' becomes the key.
As long as people have the Will, they can continue while engaging in trial and error.
No matter what kind of technology appears in the future, and no matter how much Can and Must are shaken, if you have the feeling of 'liking' something, you can continue even without a reward. It is a part that is less susceptible to the times.

Thinking about it that way, I feel that it is good to pursue and clarify what you want to do and what kind of values you cherish.

✅Summary

So, this time I have talked about 'continuation'.
In an era where there are many choices and generative AI is further evolving, I feel that hesitation about 'continuing' is increasing.

Precisely because of that state, I think it becomes more important to constantly think about the 'meaning of continuing' and to dig deeper into what you fundamentally want to do.

See you next time.

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