When you don’t know what to do, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
Wow. When it rains in Afghanistan, it REALLY rains. I have no idea how much rain we got last night, but it was a bunch. I woke up a couple of times to some of the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard, and the sound of the rain on the roof of the tent was deafening.
And the power went out. Dang. What a way to wake up.
When the alarm went off, I went about my daily routine of fumbling around in the dark for my shaker cup and mixed up a protein drink. I use a small flashlight in the morning because it gives off enough light, but doesn’t disturb the other guys in my tent.
Luckily, it wasn’t raining when I walked outside. A bunch our team had planned to get up early and drive to the MWR (morale, welfare and recreation) center to watch the Super Bowl, but there was no sign of them. After Jessie came out, (I ride to the gym with him) we headed off to the van.
When we got there, we saw another van just like ours stuck in the mud. Bummer. They didn’t notice the trench the engineers had dug for power lines had sunk in and turned to soup. Since they already had another guy pulling them out with a winch on the front of his armored truck, we continued to our van and took off.
As we pulled out the gate, we noticed that the ditches on both sides of the road were filled with running water about 3 feet deep. Uh-oh. But the road was clear, so we figured everything would be OK. It wasn’t.
After turning around 3 times on 3 different roads because we didn’t want to get stuck, we headed back to the tents. We even saw one guy had tried to turn around and ended up nose-first in the ditch filled with running water. That was good enough for us. So we missed a day at the gym. That’s better than what could have happened if we’d tried to go where we shouldn’t.
The point of this story is that you shouldn’t just continue on your path regardless of the obstacles. Oh sure, you can try a different path or another strategy, but sometimes there’s just no clear answer to your problem. When you find yourself in a situation like that, (and believe me, you will) just take a step back and reconsider your options.
When you can’t find what looks like a good course of action, maybe you shouldn’t do anything. You can get more information, look at different alternatives, etc.. But don’t plow blindly forward hoping everything will be all right. You could end up in a ditch. And then what will you do?
So remember this. When you are unsure of your next step, it’s good to wait a while and see what happens. While building your online business, you’ll often have choices of 2 or more alternative courses of action. You don’t have to choose one of them. You can choose to do nothing until you have more information. It beats making yet another expensive mistake. It’s not always wise to exercise your persistence and ability to take action.
Because when you don’t know what to do, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
7. February 2010 at 18:23
Very sensible and useful strategy in the right circumstances. There’s a time for everything – even a time to do nothing. What good is drowning in mud? Peace to you in all circumstances. Come back home soon and safe.
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7. February 2010 at 18:50
I’ve found that if I just relax, take a step back and consider my options, lots of times no action is necessary
on my part. In fact, sometimes things get clearer and the best course of action becomes obvious. It’s true,
sometimes it pays to wait.
16. February 2010 at 16:58
It’s admirable that you could still think straight about options and choices in the middle of a strange place away from all the comfort of home. Sometimes, when we are stripped of the things that we are comfortable with, we learn a lot of things that are even more important..especially about discipline, perspective and patience.
16. February 2010 at 18:32
Hi Zoraya,
You’re right. I’ve learned a lot about how much you can do when you set your mind to it,
no matter where you are. Thanks for the comment.
You may want to check out http://www.Gravatar.com and get a pic to go with your posts.
It’s always so much nicer to see who you’re talking to!
16. February 2010 at 22:08
The realization that you can do much more came from the test of survival that you have passed..The next becomes easy and less frightening..It gives you an even more daring perspective to try something bigger and challenging. There is no limit on what a person can do unless he himself sets it.