We’re forever trying to make sense of the business and leisure world we live in. It helps us clear problems and make the most of situations. It’s in our nature to do it.

Sometimes, though, it simply makes sense to realise that ‘it just is’ and move on. I’m not a big fan of the word ‘just‘, but what I really mean is that I don’t like certain applications of the word ‘just‘.

What we’re sometimes guilty of is drawing a conclusion on something that has happened, finding common threads with other events and inferring a pattern for the future. This is really dangerous, since looking back is so different from looking ahead in so many ways.

In these current times of political turbulence, people look to previous patterns for answers. Historians and economists are great at telling you what has happened, but they have no more clue than the rest of us about what will happen. They’re simply placing bets. Some come off, some don’t, so that’s not really that great a science.

Here’s an article that attempts to explain the ostensible recent lurch to the right with Brexit and the US election. It makes for compelling reading, but it’s still a bet that may or may not come off. For every instance where it has, there are several where it hasn’t.

Wars, referenda, elections, other macro shifts: stuff happens. It is what it is. It just is.