Staying Ahead of the Curve: Pre-emptive Thinking

To be able to pursue wealth and comfort, we surrender most of our other affairs, wellbeing and welfare to this system of laws and its enforcement that is consistently inadequate. The never ending introduction of new laws never seems to catch up with this inadequacy.

Where our pre-emptive abilities and vigilance had made it possible for us to dominate all other life forms, this surrender of our affairs to the state makes us more negligent of our safety and security. Opportunists and exploiters flourish in this environment. Should we be exploited or abused, we leave the remedies to the same state system that, having failed us in the first instance, is incapable of redeeming itself. Thus all around us we see things getting worse, and yet we continue with this tunnel vision.

There must be something in the human make-up that had caused us to outlast all challenges and catastrophes to emerge as the most sophisticated life form. Whether it is instinct, intuition or thinking, we had it in abundance and it served us well. Calling this characteristic Pre-Emptive Thinking, the thinking that reveals approaching dangers and problems, this book shows that it is a natural human characteristic; the ability to pre-empt and stay ahead of the curve, avoiding or containing troubles and threats.

The book takes us through a journey of self-discovery. Interspersed with life stories, we learn how we got here from being supreme pre-emptors, how we transited from treating trivial problems seriously to treating serious problems trivially, how our brain is the natural source and fountain of our pre-emptive abilities waiting to be rekindled, and what we will have to do to once again take charge of our lives. We are also shown how corporations are also deluged by this same phenomenon.

The exercises recommended for this thinking are simple, and using examples and applications across communities and corporations, we are shown the fundamentality of this thinking for all purposes. The book, without challenging the system, hints that it is not some elite group that manipulates society, but we by our behaviors cause the current social helplessness and vulnerability.

The book is styled as creative non-fiction, with humor, facts, soul-searching and solutions.