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Hi Reader, Welcome to Your Dose of Mana — a quick, weekly note with: If your biggest business challenges are actually people challenges, you’re in the right place. 1 Real Story Bruce and I knew each other in high school. Well, more accurately, I had a massive crush on him and spent a suspicious amount of time hanging around his locker pretending I just happened to be there. Repeatedly. He, meanwhile, knew who I was because he couldn’t avoid me, and didn’t exactly give me the time of day. Fast forward a few decades, and now we’ve been together for about 15 months. Funny how life works. June 15th will mark one year since I started meditating every day. Not coincidentally, I think it’s changed me. The way I experience almost everything: patience, stillness, uncertainty, relationships, even time itself. Bruce has a deep meditation practice. I wouldn’t say he’s a Buddhist, rather he’s deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy. And lately, one idea I’ve picked up keeps surfacing in conversations I’m having with all kinds of people: Things come to you when you’re ready to receive them. Not when you force them. When you’re ready. I used to think readiness was about having things “figured out.” About preparation. Achievement. Stability. Confidence. Now I think it’s often quieter than that. Readiness is emotional spaciousness. The ability to stop trying to control every outcome long enough to actually experience it. Previous relationships in my life moved fast. In retrospect, too fast. I mistook intensity for alignment. Motion for certainty. This relationship has unfolded differently. Slower. And I’ve realized something uncomfortable but true: I don’t think I could have had this relationship earlier in my life, even with the same person. Not because he wasn’t ready. Because I wasn’t. Buddhist philosophy talks about causes and conditions. The idea that nothing happens in isolation. When the internal conditions and the external conditions align, things emerge naturally. Not magically. There’s also a teaching about stillness. That muddy water becomes clear when you stop stirring it. Hmmmm. How often do we stir the water ourselves? We chase. Jobs. But sometimes the opportunity isn’t missing. Sometimes we’re simply not ready to hold it yet. That’s not failure. That’s preparation. And strangely, once you release your grip, clarity has room to appear. 1 Leadership Insight Leaders are not immune. We try to force readiness in people and organizations all the time. We push employees into management before they’re prepared to lead. We demand transformation before teams feel psychologically safe. We chase growth without the structure to sustain it. Readiness matters. Timing matters. And sometimes the wisest thing a leader can do is stop forcing momentum long enough to let the water settle. 1 Practical Takeaway Ask yourself: What am I trying to force right now? And what might change if I loosen my grip on controlling the outcome and focus more on becoming ready for it? 1 Dose of Art A little whimsy. A little joy. A little doodle.
Doodle by Gary Schechner, 5/16/2026 Even though this is a “mass email” I mean it when I say—let me know what you are up to. Reply, book a Zoom, pick up the phone. I’d love to catch up. If people issues are slowing down your business, let’s fix that. Thanks for letting me show up in your inbox. More joy. Less friction. Always. |