Far-sighted victories

Short sighted victories are common experiences in political, business and military campaigns. The future appears to be in jeopardy which preempts taking a long view of the situation. "Desperate times call for desperate measures" even though those acts of desperation will end up costing later in a big way. We use lots of metaphors to characterize these errors in strategic thinking:

• won the battle but lost the war
• cured the disease but it killed the patient
• threw the baby out with the bath water
• robbed Peter to pay Paul
• cut off their nose to spite their face
• sabotaged their success with their need to succeed at all cost
• proved to be their own worst enemy

When we achieve far-sighted victories, we take a different view of short-sightedness. We see both sides of it. It's apparent to us how it's costly to ultimate victories but beneficial to immediate survival. We find other ways to stay in the game than short-sighted victories. We let the adversity gain some ground to set up its own downfall, setback or other consequences. We work with the overall system which closes every loop to maintain equilibrium. We see how vengeance comes back around to haunt the attacker and some versions of letting go work in our own favor.

When we can formulate far-sighted victories, we see what the larger system wants. We get a read on how it's evolving from exclusion to inclusion, from oscillation to dynamic stability and from vicious to virtuous cycles. By working with that system, we go where it's headed instead of contesting it's opposition. We join the big picture and let the small-minded players suffer the consequences of going against that vast system. We "resist not" and "let both be as they are", allowing for the system to win in the end.

As we work with the larger system, we stop reacting to what happens. We respond to the larger context, upgrades and chain reactions. We make choices about how to see things and what they mean. We change the diagnosis of those alarming symptoms to consider the underlying dynamics and hidden solutions in use. We choose our battles rather than fighting what's immediately in our face or on our case. We anticipate the "bad karma" of opposing the larger system. We foresee how their vengeance will come back to haunt them, give them a taste of their own medicine and return the favor of their mistreatment. We get out of the way of what they have coming to them, rather than deliver it ourselves. We let the system close the loop and carry on with its own beneficial evolution.