Let the future unfold on its own.

On allowing your next step to become obvious.

Let the future unfold on its own.

That’s advice that makes most people squirm a bit. Myself included if I’m honest.

We want clarity. We want decisive action. We want to know what’s next.

So we dream, we plan, and we work hard to bring those dreams into reality.

Which is why it’s so perplexing when we don’t know what our next move is. Uncertainty breeds discontent, and we’ll continue to think a bit harder and work a bit harder just to make that discontent disappear.

If only.

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A client of mine has been living in this tension for several months now.

He is was the VP of Sales at a tech company and was at his breaking point with his job, the details of which don’t matter. He had a few potential job paths in front of him, and endlessly wrestled with what to do next.

The job market is terrible. Should I be switching jobs?

Maybe if my comp was higher, then I’d be happier here.

I have a couple good opportunities. Will there be more? Or is this it?

What should I optimize for? What is most important to me?

Is this even the right path?

These are the questions that my client would bat around like a pinball.

At the end of each of our coaching calls, it continued to be clear that the answer wasn’t obvious yet. And so my advice to him was always the same.

Let it become obvious.

Because there is the right answer. And there is the right time for that right answer.

But without both, we live in that tension trying to assert our will onto the situation, like pushing the wall of a building hoping it will move.

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“I’m gonna do it.”

That’s what my client opened our last coaching call with. He was referencing one of the opportunities he had in front of him.

The answer had become obvious. Finally.

Within the span of a few days, a series of events had made my client’s next move clear, obvious, and exciting. He was pumped.

And the irony is that this path was the least interesting to him for the vast majority of our conversations. But with more information comes more clarity, and sometimes that information simply takes time to acquire.

The tension means you don’t have enough information.

And not having enough information means you need more time.

Time + information = clarity (with a healthy dose of listening to your gut)

What’s most interesting about the formula above is that it doesn’t require our exertion of will onto it. We can let that muscle relax and the answers will still come. They don’t come faster just because we clench our fists tighter.

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The future is an anxious place to live.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Let it become obvious.

(And unclench your fists.)

Want to become a leader worth following?
Let’s chat.

✌️ and ❤️,

Adam Griffin