Sometimes we just need to wait for a signal to act. This can be particularly hard for some of you go-get-em guys out there, me included. As the Buddhists have said, sometimes don’t just do something, sit there. Let wisdom be our guide as to when to act. Here’s one way of looking at the options: Go Mode. This is when we are fully engaged in a quest. Full Stop Mode. This is the lay-on-the-sofa, gorging-on-streaming-content-and-munching-bonbons mode. Then there is Ready Mode. This is when we are waiting and preparing. We are keeping our minds sharp, our bodies fit, and our networks expanding. We are prepared to act when the moment is right. Because the moment will appear, and we want to be ready to enter Go Mode. The conundrum is that sometimes making big goals and action plans are forcing an action for the sake of acting, which may incur an “opportunity cost.” This is what happens when we arbitrarily jump into something which may not be the right thing for us, but we feel like we should be doing something.
This January, we will be flooded with can-do messages of how to make lists and goals, and carry through on them. Sometimes the best action is not about what big life-changing project or job we will undertake, but something more subtle: preparation and readiness. When the door opens, will we be ready? If the door opens, and we are consumed in something which we are only doing for the sake of doing something, then we may not even notice the opportunity.
Some of the biggest mistakes I have made in life have been pressing the Go Mode button just because I enjoy being Action Jackson and exerting agency in the world. Yum, feels good. Ready Mode requires restraint of action in a certain way but a lot of action in another way. It means taking responsibility for where I am, and then using time wisely. It means physical exercise; it means being smart about eating; it means getting enough sleep and working on reducing stress. It means saying yes to as many social connections as you can. This is not the idleness of Full Stop Mode. The future favors the prepared. Doors tend to open to those who are ready for them. Those who force a door, or as that luminary of wisdom Mark Zuckerberg has said, move fast and break things, may just end up with a room of broken things.
We have options, and sometimes the hardest one to act on is being in this waiting mode. Back when I was a photographer, one of the surefire ways to get a booking was to go on vacation. Somehow, and yes, this is deep woo woo, almost every time I would book time off, I would get a big job. I had made the space, and somehow the pixie dust wanted to fill it. Many of us are not at the jobs we had pre-COVID, having left by choice or otherwise. Now what? This is where it gets hard. Unless we know exactly what the next move is, and we should always keep exploring and reaching out, it may be wise to switch to Ready Mode for the right opportunity to appear.
Onward and upward,
David
