Twiddling Your Thumbs

Are you waiting around for something? The last thing you should be doing when you're waiting for something is twiddling your thumbs. I'm Doctor Carrie and I'm going to walk you through three practical steps today of things you can be doing in the waiting period rather than sitting around twiddling your thumbs. For this example, I'm going to use the idea of a promotion. Let's say you're waiting for a promotion at work and you're going to say to me, well, Doctor Carey, there's nothing I can be doing because I have no control over this promotion.

I have submitted my application, I've talked to the boss. They have given me grave reviews, and now I'm just waiting around for this promotion. Well, there are things you can be doing when you're waiting around for that promotion or that relationship or that application, whatever it is in life. But we're going to use the example of waiting around for a promotion. So the first step I want you to think about is acting as if you already have the promotion. What would you be doing if you found out right now that you got that promotion?

Let's say the promotion is a pay increase and you're going to start managing new team members. All right, well, you'd probably start to act a little bit different if you're going to be building relationships with those team members that you're now going to manage. Or maybe you'll come into work with a little bit more excellence and integrity because you're getting paid more and maybe you're going to have more responsibility as well. So acting as if you already have that promotion, start to build those relationships with other people.

Start to build relationships with that team that you're going to have. Start to act as if you already have that pay increase that makes you worth more to the company that they see the value in you. So I want you to make a list of some steps that you want to do as if you already have that. So that thing that you're waiting for, start acting like you already have it. And then think about how would I be acting? Would I be acting different than I am now? What steps would I be taking to continue to ensure that I have that promotion long term and they don't take it away from me or whatever it is you're waiting for?

Number two, celebrate those wins. Make some milestones for yourself. If you're waiting for a promotion and you want to take five people out for coffee that are going to be potential teammates that work under you, make a list. Make those coffee dates. And then celebrate that. Give yourself a little treat. Give yourself a reward. Celebrate the benchmarks and the milestones that you're going to accomplish from that list of things that you created for how to act as if you already had that, as if you already had the thing you're waiting for.

And lastly, the third step is maintaining a posture of gratitude. I can tell you patience is not my number one virtue, is probably the thing I work on the most is especially when I'm waiting for something. But if you maintain a posture of gratitude in this season of waiting, I guarantee it's going to make a difference on your outlook on everything in the waiting period. And maybe that's one of the reasons you're waiting. Maybe that's something that you need to develop and grow. And maybe that's the whole point of the waiting period, is that it's just developing that inside of you, that virtue.

So if you can maintain a posture of gratitude, maybe you need to up your gratitude practice. Maybe you need to start a gratitude practice of every time you get out of bed in the morning. I'm going to list three things I'm grateful for. Could be really, really small. Could be I'm thankful for coffee. I'm thankful that I get to wash my face, and I'm thankful that I had a great night's sleep. Could be really basic. It could be bigger things. But starting to really put gratitude at the forefront of your mind, because I guarantee that whomever is around you, if they see you in a positive grateful posture, they're more likely to gravitate towards you.

You're more likely to have things come to you. There's research that says that people who are highly grateful people are also very positive people, and good things just come to them. So in this season of waiting, try to overcome discouragement and despair and disappointment and just maintaining a gratitude practice. And maybe you need to up your game in this. If you're getting really discouraged in the waiting, I guarantee if you start to switch your mind and focus more on gratitude, you're going to be so much happier at the end of the day, and then it won't even seem like you're waiting that long.

So I hope this was helpful. These three basic tips for what you're waiting for. I am believing that it's going to come true, whatever it is you're waiting for in life. And I would love to hear your feedback about how these tips went for you and if there's any others that you guys would recommend trying. So thanks for tuning in with me today, guys. God bless.