Coachilla helps professionals find verified life & career coaches with video calls so they can create meaningful lives. They are part of a worldwide boom in transformative technology. In this guest blog post, Eeppi Nieminen (Founder & CEO of Coachilla and Graduate of the Helsinki Founder Institute), explains what transformational technology is and why its market will only be growing in the future.
In the past few years we’ve seen a boom of self-care apps and wearables that are designed to improve our well-being. However, this boom is only scratching the surface of what is possible with technology driven human flourishing. We are entering the age of transformative technology (TransTech) where technology assisted personal transformation will be at our fingertips.
What is TransTech?
Transformative technologies are hardware and software that support mental health, emotional well-being and human thriving. These new technologies give us the means to hack personal transformation. They use the latest research in sciences such as behavioral change, AI, digital medicine, sleep tech or robotics. If you want to find out more about the different technologies used in TransTech, have a look at this elaborate list from the Transformative Technology Academy (Coachilla is in the 2018 cohort).
TransTech is trying to enable personal transformation which is the individual process of expanding consciousness. During personal transformation, you will become more critically aware of your old and new views and can integrate them into a new self-definition.
The purpose of personal transformation is to make you feel more empowered to take your own path in life. For example you could experience a major shift in your life by going through a TransTech assisted life coaching process where your behavior changes and personal breakthroughs are tracked and analysed using digital tools that make smart recommendations for you and your coach.
In the past these kind of transformative experiences have been hard to scale and analyse, but with the emergence of TransTech that is about to change.
Here are some more examples of how transformative technology can affect our behaviour:
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Create behavior change through apps & devices with or without 1:1 support (like coaching)
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Explore & track our consciousness with meditation apps or self-tracking devices
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Hack meditation by monitoring brain activity with sensors.
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Augment our mind by stimulating our brain activity with gadgets.
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Find focus & peace by using places such as float tanks
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Enhance learning through virtual spaces.
The focus of transformative technology is behavior change, meaning making, self-awareness, wellness and wellbeing. In comparison to WellnessTech, the goal of TransTech is the inner growth and the development of humans. It is not solely about physical well-being but a personal transformation.
The timing seems just right for the emerging of these technologies. A few key trends will drive the high-demand of TransTech and Personal Transformation in the coming decade.
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Key Trends Driving Personal Transformation
We are living in a unique time. The pace of technological progress is changing our societies at a speed we have never seen before. Embedded in this macro-trend are three market and product trends that will push us into a new age of technology. During the next decade millions will want easy access to technology enabled personal transformation. These are the trends we’ve identified building our own TransTech company, Coachilla:
1. Millennials focus on purpose and meaning
A global uptick in unhappiness, stress, anxiety, depression and even suicide will motivate the millennial generation to look for their personal purpose and meaning. They’ll seek help from accessible services and products that improve their mental and emotional wellbeing. (Source)
2. Technological Unemployment & Power to the Individual
Millions will be displaced from their physical jobs because of automation and the information age. It will require them to choose a job where mental activity is needed. We will do less and “be” more, which will require us to rediscover ourselves. Freelancing, project work and entrepreneurship will become mainstream positions breaking down traditional life and career paths. (Source)
3. Advances in behavioral psychology & AI
Behavioral psychology will be combined with tracking behavioral change and augmenting the process with AI. This change will allow us to tailor programs for personal transformation and for other transformational technology applications as discussed by Nicol Bradford, cofounder of Transformative Tech Academy in her Medium article.
Combining these key drivers with the advances in transformative technology we are ready to enter a new age, where technology assisted personal transformation becomes mainstream.
The Next Stage of Human Flourishing is Here
We are on the verge of the next stage of human flourishing, where we will finally use technology to build services and products that enable personal transformation at scale. In addition to the trends we’ve identified three clear tell-tale signs that set the stage for this technological, economical and cultural change.
1. Rise of the transformation economy
After the experience economy we are moving into what is dubbed the transformation economy. Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal discuss it in their excellent book Stealing Fire. In the transformation economy the customer is the product. People purchase a transformation that helps them become what they want to be. Different kind of coaching services such as Life Coaching and CrossFit are very practical and early examples of services related to the transformation economy.
2. Technology is catching up
With transformative technology we can finally bridge a gap between the exponential growth of technology and our own inner development and growth. Until now it has been technology that has flourished but humanity itself has not. It’s about time we catch up.
3. Our society is changing
The trends discussed above are driving our society to a new stage where feelings such as Fulfillment, Meaning, Belonging, Purpose, Self-Awareness, Self-Knowledge, Connection and the means to find them become increasingly important and valued.
I believe that during the next decade we’ll see the self-care trend transform into a booming demand for personal transformation products and services as they become more easily accessible with the help of TransTech. Ultimately this boom will enable millions to live better, happier and more meaningful lives, a mission we are extremely passionate about at Coachilla.
