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WAIT

It must be the shortest word in the dictionary that brings out the worst in so many of us, including me.

If you had to ask me what the word wait stands for, I would have to agree with so many others.
W- Why
A – Am
I – I
T – Tempted

There is no denying that with prolonged waiting times, I get frustrated, annoyed, and even angry. It often feels to me that people don’t value my time, and I am tempted to either get up and leave or just blow my gasket.

My brother-in-law doesn’t eat bread. For him, bread is a waste of space. For me, waiting is a total waste of time.
As a business owner, I’ve always made sure that I was on time. Not only for meetings, clients, and potential clients, but even for our staff.

Yes, the unforeseen can happen, and there will be times that we have to wait, whether we like it or not. So, what do I do while I wait?

Mondays were always started with a staff meeting. One of the staff members will open with prayer, another will give feedback on the previous week or month, and a third will be responsible for the “pep talk.”

I was often asked how I could allow the staff to know the “ins and outs” of the business in such detail. For me, it was important to evolve the staff, as it is the only way to bring out the best in all of them. I still believe that this was also the reason why so many of our staff worked for us for 20+ years.

One specific Monday, there was no member of staff in sight when it was time for the meeting. There was a huge accident close to the office, and they were all stuck in traffic.

I was at the office very early that morning, as it was my turn to do the motivational side of our meeting. I had it all planned: a game that we would play and a PowerPoint presentation to end the meeting. “Climbing the ladder”, was my topic for the meeting.

As minutes went by waiting for the staff to appear, I was starting to get negative, frustrated, and, for sure, irritable. My preparations and effort for the meeting was going to be in vain.
Sitting behind my desk, staring at my screen, I didn’t feel like work. I opened the presentation, and I started to play around with it.

Let me share some of the slides with you. Yes, I kept it from 20 October, 2008.

I set up one of the support computers and the data projector in the main office and played the PowerPoint over and over again. In fact, it played the whole morning. It could not be missed.

As the staff started to arrive one by one, I could hear them laughing, and it did not stop there. They started to put names to images, started to argue, and started to defend themselves. It was one of the best "staff meetings" we ever had.

This is where those words of John Lennon come in so well: "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"?
No matter what we plan and how carefully we plan, we cannot plan life. Life follows its path. All we need to do is accept it, make the best of it, and keep on planning.

* Do I consider that we must be productive all the time?
If you had asked me this question a few years ago my answer would have been yes. Right now, my answer is NO!
It was my daughter who told me the other day that she wish she was a teenager in my house now and not so many years ago.

* What do I do in everyday situations where I have to wait?
I try to stay calm by keeping myself busy. I will turn up the music, play a game on my phone, and match people up when I am in the doctor’s consulting room. Oh yes, and when I have to wait in a restaurant, I start counting the chairs, looking at what people have ordered to eat, and try to work out the turnover.

* Do I have an attitude towards life while I wait, or do I only think about goals to achieve?

From the time we open our eyes, we all have tasks, goals, and even dreams for the day, the next day, and the day after. As we grow older, they do become easier and less demanding. However, waiting stays the same. Wait is waiting, and you don't have a magic wand to change it.

Achieving these tasks, goals, and dreams must be the last thing on my mind when I have to wait. I have to do something to make me relax, and thinking about them is not going to do that for me. No, it starts with my attitude towards life and, in particular, w a i t i n g...

When you move on in years, waiting becomes easier, but be warned you still don't get used to it.

My advice is to not be tempted. Start today by learning how you can make waiting your best friend as waiting is not only in the office but also in our lives.

^{All images are from my PowerPoint presentation and I can assure you that this post is ALL my own work.}

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