Stuck. Waiting.
Lately I’ve been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and the part I’m up to talks about ‘Stuckness’. Of course, I’ve also read ‘O, the places you’ll go!’ by the all knowing Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss explains that you should avoid going to the ‘Waiting Place’ – for people just waiting for a train to come or the rain to go or the phone to ring…’. I think that Pirsig and Seuss are talking about the same thing here. It is the concept of having too many choices, too many thoughts, too many possibilities that flood the ability to separate the good choices from the bad.
As a result, you are both Stuck and Waiting. Waiting for the right choice to present itself; Stuck sorting the good from the not so good. But, as Pirsig later explains, the right choices, while present in the problem, may never present themselves. They need to be actively sought out. But how do you seek out a solution to a problem where you are presented with so many choices and each one, if followed will take you to in a completely different direction than the others.
It is a situation I seem to find myself in right now. Stuck. Waiting. But for what? It’s not that I’m not happy with how things are right now. Small pieces. I think the way forward, from a stuck, waiting state, is to think much, much smaller. The problem is a matter of scope. Think too big and you’ll never get anywhere, you’ll just be inundated with options, possibilities, choices. Refine the scope, narrow it down continually until there is very little to do, but choose the right next step. Even though other problems will still present themselves, the choice between them and the correct one will become obvious. It will be a Quality choice.
So how then does this apply to my current situation? It’s not a matter of planning. Planning a solution to an unfathomable problem is not easily done. However, noting down key points to act on is the first step, like an action/task list. Each action then gets broken down in to smaller problems with more readily identifiable solutions. And again repeat this until the smallest possible action, with only one obvious solution is presented. Act on this and roll the solution back up to the parent problem.
It sounds a bit like a divide and conquer approach, but applied to everyday life.
And so it now becomes a problem of time. Time to analyse. Time to observe. Time to decide. But, argh! Now I am back to the beginning. I am Stuck. I am Waiting.
So here presents a problem. If you have thoughts, please advise. Time to note down the problem, the break down, the recursion. The solution will present itself. It will become evident. It will be Quality.
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