It happened long ago that a German
chancellor named Konrad Adenauer changed his mind about something. When asked
why he did it, he said he reserved the right to be smarter today than he was yesterday.
You got to admit, this was a smart thing to say and a wise advice to go by.
But is it always wise to change one's mind
about important things? In the English culture of North America, at least two
metaphors were invented to demonstrate the perils inherent to changing one's
mind too often, or changing it by habit, for no good reason.
One metaphor tells the story of the fellow
who finds himself driving a car on a congested highway. He keeps changing his
position from one lane to another whenever he believes that this lane or that
one is moving faster than the one he’s in. But when he inspects what's around
him, just to see how well he’s doing, he finds himself either among the same
group of cars as he was ten or fifteen minutes ago –– or worse, he finds
himself lagging behind them. Thus, changing lanes did him no good.
The other metaphor tells the story of the
fellow who trades on the stock market. The moment he sees that a stock is
advancing faster than the one he owns; he automatically sells what he holds and
buys the other one. After doing this kind of transaction several times, he
discovers he would have been better off staying with the stock he was holding
originally. Thus, selling and buying stocks without taking the fundamentals
into account did him no good.
Why is that? Because each time that he
sold––not knowing what the true value of the stock is––he sold before it had
reached its highest value. And each time that he bought a new stock––not
knowing what its true value is––he did so after the stock had appreciated up to
its true value, and was ready to “flatline” or correct downward. The net result
is that the fellow made very little money or lost. But what he succeeded in
doing, was make lots of money for the broker who gets a commission coming and
going.
Well then, is there some kind of formula
or science or philosophy we can learn and use to determine when and where to
change from one thing to another? If so, what good would it be to know these
things if you're a sensible driver to begin with, and you don't trade on the
stock market?
The short answer is that when you're
facing choices in life, being experienced is the best thing you can have under
your belt. It hones your instinct and warns you of the pitfalls that you may
encounter as you move from one setting to another. But while protecting
yourself by taking the necessary precautions, you'll still want to make the
choices––perhaps a little risky––that will render your journey through life an
efficient exercise.
This is when you'll remember the metaphor
about changing horses in midstream and try using it to the fullest. It goes as
follows: Life is like a cluster of horses, all running in the same direction
but not at the same speed. In fact, none of the horses runs fast all the time. What
each does is speed up, and when it gets tired, slows down. Meanwhile, another
horse that's rested, speeds up. It goes on like that, cycle after cycle, as
each horse takes its turn speeding and then slowing down to rest and speed up
again.
Whatever your vocation, whether you are in
the apprentice phase of your life or the journeyman's phase, doing things
efficiently means producing as much as anyone without spending unnecessary
energy achieving the task that you’re on. Learning how to put the lesson about
changing horses in midstream is a useful skill to have under your belt because
it will help you become productive and efficient.
And here is a pertinent question: What
happens when someone that may have the right skills for one vocation, ends up exercising
those skills in a field that’s so different –– he has neither the learned
skills nor the natural talent for it? If that's your question, my friend, there
is no better way to find the answer than to read a remarkable article that was
written by Daniel L. Davis.
The article came under the title: “Trump's
Big Mistake: He Hasn't Withdrawn From Syria But Doubled Down,” and the
subtitle: “Three times in the past eighteen months Trump has announced American
troops would be withdrawn from Syria. Three times senior administration figures
or influential advisers walked him back.” The article was published on November
29, 2019 in The National Interest.
Because there is no way I can do justice
to the content of the article by condensing it, I'll only advise that you read
the entire piece. What I can say, however, is that while reading the article,
you'll find it interesting to try determining where Donald Trump attempted to
change America's lanes when he shouldn't have. When he dumped America's stocks
too soon on the world stage. And when he bought useless stocks that did America
no good at all.
See also if you can determine when and
where Trump missed the opportunity to change horses at a time when they were
there, ready to take America to new heights.