I am sure that you remember the epic stories that emerged from Hill Valley, California, during the 1980’s. This was the hometown of renowned inventor and scientist, Dr. Emmett L. Brown, who had a vision to create a machine that possessed the ability to transport the entirety of its contents into the future. As long as the operator could get the machine—a DeLorean—to 88 miles per hour and supply 1.21 gigawatts of power to the flux capacitor, the iconic 1982 car would be transported to a different time.
Fast forward 27 years and we no longer need a plutonium-powered hotrod to propel us to an alternate time or place. I recently purchased a time machine that can’t take me forward in time but frequently transports me back to my childhood. My 1974 Ford Courier is almost identical in every way to the vehicle my grandparents owned when I was a kid; it is the same make, model, year, and color of the truck my grandfather drove to work at the San Francisco Postal Service for over 20 years.
This vehicle isn’t a mode of transportation for me but a guacamole-colored time machine. Every chance I have to get behind the wheel takes me back to 1985 when I was a seven-year-old kid who rode in between my grandparents on the bench seat as we set off to meet my father for lunch at the Italian delicatessen.
Admittedly, I am an early adopter that waits in line for the latest iPhone, shares documents exclusively on the cloud, and continually dreams of ways for augmented reality to drastically enhance the way we consume content. My love for tech and all things related to the future is in stark contrast to the experience driving an old car has the ability to provide.
As we all anxiously await the release of the iPhone 7, I encourage you to slow down to remember what life was like before Snapchat and Uber. I ask you to think back to a time when you had to pull out the choke and pump the gas pedal before turning the key to start the ignition. It is these analog experiences that we took for granted which have the ability to transport us to simpler eras.
For the last 13 months I have been averaging well over 88 MPH to get my business off the ground. It is during my weekly drive to work in the Guacamole Express that I slow down long enough to appreciate the little victories we have been experiencing and allow myself the opportunity to daydream about what the future might hold. As you search for your DeLorean, please remember the inspirational words of Doc Brown, “Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.”
