Open up your mind and say, ahh...

“Nothing” is the most common response.

Do nothing until you do know the answer. Study and practice and wait for approval and then do something.

Which is fine (for a surgeon) but what happens most of the time? Most of the time there’s something that needs to be done where the answer is unknowable until you do it…

That’s what we’re waiting for you to do.

A friend was waiting to hear about the results of a job interview. He hadn’t heard in a while and he asked me, “how long before I should start worrying?”

Of course, the answer is, “you should never start worrying.”

Worrying is not a useful output. Worrying doesn’t change outcomes. Worrying ruins your day. Worrying distracts you from the work at hand. You may have fooled yourself into thinking that it’s useful or unavoidable, but it’s not. Now you’ve got one more thing to worry about.

If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?

I hope so. If not, you’re wasting away.

No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there’s a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.

Hurry, go do that.