Lub Dub

“It’s the heartbeat of the world.  What seemed like a good idea five or ten years ago, isn’t a good idea now and it must be reversed.”

That’s how a colleague described the “Lub Dub Cycle” to me several years ago.  He credits one of his former bosses for educating him on the cycle.   Since then, I’ve seen it as a driving force in many things – business, politics, public opinion, sports trends, financing economic growth, subprime mortgage lending, elections, philosophy – just to name a few.

I was most recently reminded of it this past weekend when my wife and I visited with a friend on our hometown’s city centre, or The Square, as locals call it.  The city recently undid a works project taken on about 30 years ago around the town’s courthouse to make The Square modern and help employment.  Now, after undoing that work, the area around the courthouse looks the same as it did 50 years ago.

While our society tends to move forward providing us with high quality of life compared with our ancestors, much of our motion is governed by the Lub Dub Cycle.  I’m not sure Lub Dub is avoidable.  I don’t believe we’ll ever know what things will move us forward and what things will not until we try.  But, when undergoing a project it might be worth considering the Lub Dub.