Never underestimate fatigue

Like rust, it always sets in

The headlines excitedly proclaimed this week when the US House of Representatives finally picked a Speaker (Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana). It came on the fourth nominee, an up-and-down three week process in which several other members of congress were unusuccessful.

To many, Mr. Johnson was a surprise, as he was/is a politician without a national profile. But he had one enormous factor in his favor—fatigue.

Just as we all ultimately die, we humans all get tired. (With a wider lens, we can see that all animals get tired too—my understanding is that all animals require at least some sleep.) Fatigue has very likely decided more wars, contests, campaigns, and struggles than any other. Something so simple—one side tires—settles so much.

That counsels the importance of rest and recovery in our lives as well as in strategy. Yet somehow we deliberately avoid sleep. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” said every tough buffoon that ever lived (a policy sure to bring that date with death closer).

If we’re looking for a metaphor, rust seems best. A little rust in the gears has little impact, just as a little fatigue does. It won’t hurt too much.

But over time, rust and fatigue accumulate until the adversary or environment ends our efforts.

That’s not just on the individual level. Large social activities like war and politics and sport are all governed by the same principles. Just because we’re aggregating upwards in numbers of people does not excuse them from collective and widespread fatigue. There’s an adage that goes, “war settles not who’s right, but who’s left.” And who is left is a function of the ability to withstand fatigue and endure.

There is no escape, so rest yourself and your strategy and make strategy flexible enough to exploit your adversary’s own fatigue.

Like the gentleman from Louisiana did.