Let me start with a quick story: One of my hobbies is collecting miles and points (e.g., airline miles and hotel points).

In this arena, opportunities open and disappear constantly. Programs devalue overnight (e.g., requiring far more points for the same flight), advantageous loopholes close, and new cards and promotions become available. It's a constant game of cat and mouse.

What was good advice or the best way to do something three months ago often isn't anymore.

Everything about the hobby is always in flux. For example, I was about to cancel a card because of a huge increase in the annual fee, and then the bank dropped an offer to receive a $359 health tracker for free, making me glad I hadn't yet.

Why am I telling this story? Because operating in that volatile environment is what has prepared me better than anything else in my life to deal with (a) corporations and (b) rapidly changing or fuzzy scenarios.

Thriving in a fast-changing world, characterized by imperfect (and sometimes unfair) systems requires being flexible and nimble in specific ways. Here are three that can help you navigate whatever volatile systems you’re operating within.

1. Ability to Adapt to Flexible Rules

When we're children, we think in black and white and believe rules are hard and fast. As adults, as life experience kicks in, we begin to understand there are different sorts of rules.

We understand that not stealing is a hard rule. We might also understand that "don't wear jeans to work" means don't wear ratty jeans, or don't wear jeans on days the corporate team are visiting.

The practical takeaway: When you're allowed to break an unimportant rule, go with it. When you're not, don't make a fuss. Don't say, "But I was allowed to break the rule last week." Read the room. If you've been allowed to break an unimportant rule before, but suddenly you're not, let some time pass and poke it again.

Understand what a rule is trying to prevent. If what you're doing doesn't undermine that, and won't get anyone in trouble, you've found a rule that might be flexible.

2. Know When to "Hang Up and Call Again"

In the miles and points world, there is an infamous saying that you should never ask a customer service agent a question you don't already know the answer to. Miles and points experts often know more about the intricacies of certain rewards programs than a lot of the customer service agents.

For example, if you need to book a complex flight award over the phone, only an agent who has done it before might know how to help you. The HUCA principle would tell you that if the first person you reach on the phone is struggling, rather than attempting to work with them, politely find a reason to end the call, then call back and try your luck with someone new.

This example might seem pretty specific, but the underlying principle is much broader than you'd expect. For example, with AI, when the AI agent is stuck, it's often better to clear the context and start from a blank slate than try to get it out of its loop of stuckness. Something in the existing context (the work you've done in the session) has essentially poisoned or hijacked their reasoning. You don't have to know what it was. You can clear all the context and start fresh.

The general principle: if the capability you need exists in the system, but your current interaction can't access it, the nimble move is resetting the interaction. If prior context is poisoning an interaction, start fresh.

3. Learn to Deal With Half-Baked Technology

We build up expertise with tools by using them. The best tools are often developer versions or labeled as "labs" or "experiments." The companies making them are offering them to test but warning you they will have bugs and unexpected behavior.

AI is evolving so fast that if you're used to very polished, "dummy-proof" versions of tools, you might experience an expectations mismatch when using cutting-edge ones. If you only want the very safe versions where the company has put in all the guardrails for you, you're going to be limited in what you can use.

What being adaptable means here: Learn what's important to understand (e.g., security considerations) and what you can gloss over. Good metacognition is invaluable, like being aware of the Dunning-Kruger effect and also of how cleverly designed products have manipulated our attention and motivation throughout the internet era.

Don't delay your start on gaining expertise until tools are perfect. But don't allow yourself to be manipulated unawares either.

Being Nimble Relies on Both Meta-Cognition and Psychological Flexibility

You may have noticed that everything I've called being nimble requires metacognition and psychological flexibility. I knew the bank and the wearable manufacturer were manipulating me with the free health tracker (the bank to have me keep paying the huge annual fee, and the manufacturer to get me to try their product). I chose to let myself be the mouse caught by the cat in that specific situation, but I didn't do it blindly.

All three skills I've presented work the same way. They're about making good observations and responding flexibly rather than rigidly. They require you to anchor yourself in ethics and meet systems where they are rather than getting frustrated about the way things "should be."

A fast-moving world can feel anxiety-provoking. We can easily feel like successfully navigating it requires skills we don't yet have, or strengths that don't come naturally. However, what we need to expertly traverse volatile, imperfect systems can be broken down into some key fundamentals: meta-cognition and flexible thinking. When we see this, it can help us realize we already have the core building blocks of what's required to thrive.

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