Going with the Flow

This is an Apple Books audiobook narrated by a digital voice based on a human narrator.

A swimmer who fights the current wears himself out and goes nowhere. A swimmer who reads the river and moves with it travels further, with less effort, and arrives with energy to spare. Going with the Flow is a short, practical guide to becoming the second kind of swimmer.

Drawing on the ancient wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, the classic of Chinese philosophy attributed to the sage Lao Tzu, David Tuffley shows how the deep patterns of Nature shape not only rivers, seasons and species but also our relationships, our work and the course of our lives. These patterns cannot be escaped, any more than a swimmer can avoid getting wet. They can, however, be understood. And once understood, they can be worked with rather than against.

The book begins with the foundations. You will discover why life is better understood as something that has you, rather than something you have, and what follows from seeing yourself as one small expression of a much larger creative force. You will learn to recognise the cycles that turn strength into weakness, wealth into poverty and success into decline, and how noticing the early signs of change allows you to position yourself wisely before it arrives.

From there Tuffley turns to the practical arts of raising your awareness. He explains why treating everyone with the same respect, from the most powerful to the least, brings a rare kind of freedom. He shows how non-competitiveness and moderation release you from the treadmill of status and possessions, and why the need for praise is simply the other face of the fear of blame. You will learn to be rational about the ancient instincts that once kept our ancestors alive but now lead us into excess, and why going to extremes almost always invites a reversal you will not enjoy. Each principle is illustrated with an image from the natural world.

A chapter on thinking more clearly tackles the habits that cloud judgement: unrealistic expectations, fixed ideas that harden with age, the seductive comfort of group-think, and the temptation to rest too long on one's laurels. Along the way you will find memorable images that stay with you long after reading, among them the young tree that bends in the storm while the rigid old one snaps, the mountaineer who must come down from one peak before climbing the next, and the heavy sack of expectations that can simply be dropped into a ditch.

The final chapter applies the same principles to the art of influence. Here Lao Tzu's famous insight takes centre stage: the best leader is the one whose people barely know he exists, so that when the work is done they say, "We did it ourselves." Tuffley explores how consistency, subtlety, simplicity, humility and a light touch achieve far more than force ever can, whether you lead a company, a classroom, a family or your own life.

Clear, warm and refreshingly free of jargon, Going with the Flow can be read in an evening and returned to for years. It offers no quick fixes and no grand promises. What it offers instead is something more durable: a way of seeing the world as it actually moves, and of moving with it.

Step into the river. The current has been waiting for you.