Without question we are in a period of economic transition. New words and concepts are becoming increasingly common place in our discussions. Inflation, national debt, tariffs, supply shortages and AI are impacting major businesses, small entrepreneurs and consumers across the broad spectrum of our world. Two specific strategies – skills – are becoming increasingly important for surviving the transition, emerging from the turmoil, landing in a place of safety and creating a new era of abundance. I’m calling these the skill of understanding and the skill of overcoming.
I want to offer a working definition and visual description of each concept. Please forgive my overly simplistic approach. But I find the ancient, root definitions just too ironic and too memorable to ignore. So, let’s dive in!
Understanding.
Our 21st century, western world, defines “understanding” in cognitive terms, relating to thought, intelligence, awareness, problem solving. But the ancient derivation of the word simply meant “to stand under”! Think of the native American proverb of “walking a mile” in the shoes of another. Similarly, other ancient cultures believed that understanding an unfamiliar person, idea, teaching or concept requires a learner (or disciple) who is willing to stand under the subject of interest, allowing the essence of it to drip into the one desiring to know more about it.
Those desiring to understanding our economic transition will standing under novel technologies and concepts, slowly absorb new truths about forces driving our world. Only then will we be able to develop the thoughts, intellect and workable strategies to navigate collectively to a safe and prosperous place. I believe “standing under” is a new skill, a new habit, a new practice that we all must actively pursue.
Stepping In
For me, standing under first requires stepping into arenas that are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, even frightening. I must brush aside initial responses and reactions, actively seek disconfirming evidence to my own opinions carefully consider the experiences of early pioneers. To re-learn a lesson from my earlier years, I “Don’t believe everything I think!”
Staying
Next, standing under requires me to stay in the arena, even when I am mentally overwhelmed. I approach information with curiosity, being content to eat the elephant slowly – one bite at a time. I restrain playing the role of a college student preparing to write an essay, choosing to be a different kind of learner, nibbling around the edges, sipping slowly, developing an acquired taste for wine that was unpleasant at first. Audio books are helpful in standing under, allowing another voice (not the one in my head) to wash over me, restricting any impulse to engage the mental exercise of understanding, until the page, the chapter or entire book is completed.
Forestalling
Standing under is forestalling the formulation of half-baked opinions, solutions or strategies. My business world background rewarded those who were first to identify problems and implement workable solutions. I learned that the first company to the market with a great product would dominate. All true. But remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. How did the turtle win in a foot race with a rabbit? Perhaps by taking time to stand under and find a shorter route that was more suitable to the strengths of a turtle.
One other important point is that standing under is not a one size fits all skill. I want to challenge each person, each family, each community to develop and test workable postures.
Overcoming.
Again, our modern, western-world definition would center on succeeding, defeating an enemy, overpowering, pinning an opponent to the mat. All good and valid components of the definition. But the ancient derivation of the word is simply “to come over” or “hover over”.
The Biblical account of creation (whether literal or metaphorical) begins with the concept of overcoming as a creative force—a spirit hovering over darkness and chaos and extracted from it a magnificent, orderly universe full of life.
As the world of politics and finance grows increasingly chaotic, my impulse is to grab something and wrestle it to the ground: campaign for a candidate who will help people like me; launch a social media project to educate the masses; market a product to transform the world; write an article to enlighten and motivate. All these are valid, proactive approaches to overcoming.
Key
But what if something less physically active is key. Should I simply ban together with like-minded sisters, move to make our presence felt and observe, go about my business, do the basics.Many of the most thoughtful economists of our day have concluded that the solution to our problems lies in the hands of the individual.I am totally intrigued by the concept of the “invisible hand of the market”.
Check out this definition from Google: The “invisible hand” is a metaphor, coined by Adam Smith, describing the self-regulating nature of a free market economy. It suggests that individuals acting in their own self-interest can unintentionally benefit society as a whole, as if guided by an unseen force.
Systems
Systems come and systems go. We rack our brains in an attempt to bring benefit to humanity by understanding and deploy it. We bemoan the loss of past systems that were beneficial. Systems are complex and ever changing. However, certain basic principles have been known to work throughout history and across the globe in any existing system. Some clear and actionable suggestions would be as follows: Get yourself in order. Start a business, join a business, educate yourself. You will become an economic unit and raise GDP. When millions of people take these steps, based on their own self-interest, everything gets better for everyone. As smart people, we must stop thinking we can create systems that will work better than individuals doing the right thing.
As we become creators rather than mere consumers, even brutally oppressive systems will bow to the superior force that we become. So, let’s all agree to stand under and come over until we move our world in the direction of abundance.
Read more of Gail’s article on Plaid or connect with her on her website.
