Keep on Moving Through “That Waiting Game”
It is not easy to wait for something to happen. I’m experiencing that feeling as I put my thoughts together to produce this blog post. In my case I am waiting for a telephone call on an insurance approval for a surgery procedure that tests I have taken have shown it is necessary to schedule. One of my current clients is waiting to hear from a company, with which he interviewed, if he is the candidate who will be offered the job (and at an offer level that meets to his current economic needs). For a family member of mine it is to hear on the sex of her next to be born grandchild. Waiting can paralyze us into inactivity. We think constantly of when we are going to hear, what it will do to our schedule, how we may need to react. And, yet that is just the opposite of what we should be doing.
Let’s take the case of the job searcher. They’ve taken time to assess what it is they are looking to do for employment. Research has been done on different companies for whom they may want to work. There have been networking meetings, letter writing, telephone calls made, interviewing and disappointments in hearing that they’re not a fit for a particular job. Then it happens. They meet with the company that matches their search criteria, they connect well with those they interview and are called back for several follow up discussions. And, all of a sudden they put all their focus, all their energy on this one opportunity and stop the activities that have gotten them to this point.
While certainly the intention should be to be both as optimistic as possible, and also do every follow up step they feel is necessary to pursue the opportunity at hand, it should not mean everything else stops. I know in waiting to hear about my procedure my tendency is to say, should I schedule that meeting, make that follow-up call or postpone whatever is on my calendar currently anticipating that tomorrow or the next day will be the day for my surgery. And, yet I push myself not to fall into that tendency because there are things I can be productively doing now that may not only help someone at this moment, but at the point my life picks up after the medical procedure. My past experiences have taught me that while a serious procedure, it is one where I have been up and functional a day or two after. In actuality, given the type of tasks I perform in the work I do, in some ways the recovery from the surgery will actually “restrict” me to focus on those items involving preparation and client support documents that are so much a significant part of the work I do.
Therefore, remember, when taking steps that will get you to the goals you seek to reach, don’t stop taking action when the finish line is in sight. If you have been doing activities that have moved you toward your goal and are part of your routine, continue to do them until you are absolutely sure you have achieved what you desire. With job searchers for example it is common to encourage them to not stop the search process when they receive the offer of the job, but until they are actually working at it, (sometimes for as long as two to three months), and they know it is the right fit for them.
Stopping our momentum makes it that much more difficult to pick it up again if we need to, if and when something we were expecting to happen falls through. So, if you are in that “waiting period” for something to happen, acknowledge it, realize what of it you can and cannot control, and then choose to do those things that will keep you and your momentum continuing to move in a forward direction.
