Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future (Non-Obvious Trends Series)

SEEK OUT COMMON WORDS. As you review your groups of ideas and stories, look for key words that can reveal the common themes among them. When I was collecting ideas related to entrepreneurship, for example, a word kept coming up that described the growing ecosystem of on-demand services for entrepreneurs: fast. This word helped me bring various piec

FOCUS ON INSIGHTS. Taking notes by highlighting passages in a book doesn’t work if you highlight every sentence. Don’t try to summarize everything about the article or idea; instead focus on what made the idea memorable or any insights you had at the moment you saved it. ADD LABELS. Use “note boxes” to make your notes easily skimmable. Write a few

Studies indicate that instead of making us self-centered liars, social media may be giving us the one thing we need to shape our identities in a digital world: power over our stories.

Is the name already in use or well understood? Is it relatively simple to say out loud in conversation? Does it make sense without too much explanation? Could you imagine it as the title of a book? Are the words in the name unique, not clichéd or generic? Does it describe a topic in an unexpected way?

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Gathering is the disciplined act of collecting stories and ideas while taking notes of why they are interesting.

Great trends reflect a moment in time, but that moment is never fleeting, and the basic idea is more elevated. Good trends always focus on the shift in an underlying human behavior or belief. They don’t describe a single interesting story or a hot new product or industry.

Aggregating is the process of grouping ideas together to uncover bigger themes.

MASHUP WORDS. Mashups take two words or concepts and combine them in a meaningful way. Likeonomics is a mashup of likeability and economics. This technique can make a trend name memorable and uniquely yours, but it can feel forced and artificial if not done artfully. There is a reason I didn’t call my book Trustonomics. The best mashups are easy to

A trend is a curated observation of the accelerating present.