You know how sometimes you hear a song over and over for years and years, but you realize you’ve never really heard it? Well, that just happened to me last week with the song “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer (2006). I’ve heard this song many times, but last week the words jumped out and into me. Here’s a sample:
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Funny that this song was released in 2006, yet it sounds like so many voices today, and the outcome is the same – waiting on the world to change.
This is so often true, isn’t it? Things or people are not working or acting the ways that we want, and instead of directly addressing the situations, issues or people, we wait for them to change. We have people on our team who are not meeting expectations and, rather than being direct with our feedback and offering support to help them achieve, we keep waiting on them to change. And then we get frustrated when they don’t change and typically blame them for not changing, yet all we did in support of the desired change was to wait and hope.
Where are you doing this in your life or leadership? What situation are you dissatisfied with, but for any reason are choosing not to take action and instead waiting for the situation to change? What business or personal relationship is not working in your life, but rather than directly communicating in the hope of achieving your desired change, you’re waiting for the other person to change? Whether you feel you don’t have the power to create the change, or you’re simply choosing not to take the risk of helping to achieve the change, waiting is still waiting.
Later in the John Mayer song there’s this lyric:
It’s hard to beat the system
When we’re standing at a distance
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Certainly, keeping at a distance either literally or emotionally is safer and carries fewer risks, but we also know that hope itself is not a strategy, and closing that distance and getting into the fight for change is at the core of leadership and livingship.
As you go through the coming week, think about the people and situations that you’re waiting to change. Consider the issues or problems that require solutions, but you’re holding back and waiting either for them to resolve themselves or for someone else to take the risk of action. Where are you waiting for the people, situations or even the world to change?
Once you know these answers, the only question left is simple: will you continue to wait for the changes or boldly take action to help achieve the changes you desire? We all know that waiting for the world to change has never worked! So what are you waiting for?
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