WAITING GAME

The waiting game is interesting and fruitful only when deployed under the right and the most appropriate circumstances.  I see people adopting the waiting game for everything and anything.  Is it smart to play the waiting game on every situation?  May be the bad habit of procrastination is being hidden under the waiting game.

As a business strategist I do advise my clients to play the waiting game but I am very selective in giving this piece of advise.  If you are not the market leader and you do not have deep pockets to make some bold and pathbreaking decisions, then the waiting game is the best option.  You can wait and watch how the market behaves and what the competition is doing before making your own moves.

The key is to swing into action at the right time and not continue to wait for too long.  

There was a butterfly in the cocoon who was struggling to come out.  A small boy was watching this and thought he should not wait any longer for the butterfly to emerge from the cocoon and hence he broke it.  The butterfly came out of the cocoon but remained crippled for the rest of its life.  The struggle within the cocoon is designed by nature for the butterfly to gain strength on his wings so that he would break the cocoon with his own wings by repeatedly trying and finally when he breaks the cocoon with his own efforts and emerges out he is fit and ready to fly the next minute.  The butterfly is meant to live by flying across different plants and not sit at one place.

I am reminded of the story of the Chinese Bamboo which i read some time back.  The Chinese Bamboo grows 80 feet in just six weeks, but do you when?  In the fifth year of planting the seed.  In the first two years there is nothing visible but still you need to water the plant and keep caring for it.  In the third and fourth year is shows little signs of growth and this is exactly where the patience is tested. 

Interestingly it is not the growth of 80 feet in six weeks.  It is the watering and nurturing of four years which finally yields the results in fifth year with 80 feet bamboo tree.  What is visible is the 80 feet growth in six weeks in the fifth year.

It is the faith and hardwork of the farmer which brings the results.  Our life is full of such waiting games and watch this motivational speech by Les Brown:

My friend Shridhar Sampath has been dreaming of launching a programme to Inspire, Challenge and Empower young minds.  His dream has been to inspire 1,000,000 people.  Yes that is one million people.  He has been nurturing this idea for the last six years and finally he has now launched the first of his Master Class which is scheduled for 28th January 2017.  The waiting game is now going to yield results and I wish him all the very best.

Shridhar, the waiting game is over and now it is time for your to rock.  All the very best for the first Masterclass and I am sure you will follow it up with many more at regular intervals all over the world.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
27th January 2017