Hesitation + New Things

Standing in front of a New Thing, I don't know what's going to happen. I have ideas about what will take place, a rough sketch of what the experience might look like, worry about what could go sideways, hopes about what might happen if the New Thing goes well. But mostly, the predominant feeling about the New Thing is uncertainty. That’s sort of the definition of new things, isn’t it? But still, this is where hesitancy builds.

Here’s one way I’ve found to counteract the hesitation: you don’t know what you’re going to learn next. Just as you don’t know how the New Thing will unfold, you also don’t know what this New Thing will teach you -- what skills it will impart, what it will prepare you for next, what wisdom it will reveal. 

The irony is that the worse this New Thing goes, the greater the opportunity to learn. What we know and how we know are forged in life experience. What don’t get to control the learning content, but we can control our posture. 

You bring your whole self to the New Thing, but beyond that the events are out of your hands. The learning, less so. You may not be able to choose the subject matter, but you can most certainly choose a posture of learning. You can maximize the opportunity.

That looks like consciously observing, asking questions, a willingness to look foolish, researching, reflecting, dialoguing. For me, that includes writing and reading.

What’s coming will come. What are you going to learn from it?