“It’s not that women can’t dance, its that women are waiting to be asked.” ~ Marie Wilson
I read this quote from the former President of the Ms. Foundation for Women in a recent edition of O Magazine and it instantly got my attention. In my own life, my own journey to success, my own relationships, in EVERYTHING… I have learned that the word “waiting” (when it stands alone) is many things:
- It is wimpy…
- It is powerless…
- It is devoid of action…
- It is not results-oriented…
- It is “safe” and (seemingly) without risk…
For me… it has been a poisonous word… as I “waited” to market myself until I was ready… as I “waited” for someone to acknowledge my “gifts”… as I “waited” for the “right time”… In December I am hosting a very intimate retreat for 6 women entrepreneurs and I will be openly sharing my own vulnerable and almost debilitating relationship with the “strategy” of “waiting”. For now, however, I simply want to say that WAITING (if it stands alone) is not a strategy. WAITING robs us of our most valuable resource: our time, and often times our confidence.
When I was eighteen, my family and I endured a series of tragedies. During this time, I learned that time was finite. We are not guaranteed tomorrow.. and if we are, in fact, blessed with tomorrow… it could look very different than today. So, don’t wait! Get out there and dance the dance that is uniquely YOU! Dance like no one is looking! Don’t wait to be called off the bench. Boldly walk out of the dugout onto your own Field of Dreams.
Before I close this one… let me go ahead and “head off” the comments from my sister entrepreneurs and executives in Christ. 🙂 Waiting on the Lord IS a strategy… it is different from just “stand alone” waiting… but only if it is accompanied by prayer, and preparation!!
In reading this post I feel the tinge of choking up-me that is. I sometimes self defeat by “waiting”. Wondering if I have what it takes to move forward and become. I am trying to figure out exactly what it is I want from my business. Where I want to go and yet I think I am waiting for “something”. I am not sure what that “something” is, so most likely I am robbing myself. Thank you for writing this and getting me to think…I don’t want to “wait” any longer….You are so wonderful and so talented in your thinking and your writing.