The beach ball that was just out of reach

One summer afternoon, my boys were playing in the shallow water at the beach with a brightly colored beach ball. One of them knocked it farther out than they could reach, so I went to get it.

I waded in until the water was nearly up to my shoulders. The ball was a few feet in front of me. Close enough that a quick lunge might have done it.

But I waited. The waves were coming toward me. Why make the effort if the ocean was going to bring it right to me?

It seemed like a reasonable decision. For about another few seconds.

A gust of wind caught the ball and pushed it the other way. What had been almost within reach was suddenly moving away faster than I expected. I wasn’t getting that ball back.

I lost a beach ball. Hardly a major life event. But I have thought about that decision more times than you might expect.

I had a chance to act, and I passed on it because I thought the opportunity would get easier. I was counting on conditions staying favorable. They didn’t.

That happens at work, too. We put off a conversation because next week might be less awkward. We wait to make a decision because one more piece of information might settle it. We see an opportunity and assume it will still be there when we are ready.

Sometimes waiting is exactly the right call. I’m not suggesting we lunge at every beach ball that floats past us. That would be an exhausting way to run a business.

But there is a difference between waiting for a reason and waiting because we would rather not make the effort yet. It is easy to call both of them patience.

That beach ball gives me a useful question when I catch myself hesitating: Am I waiting because there is a good reason, or because I’m hoping this will get easier?

I might have lunged and missed. I’ll never know. What I do know is that waiting did not remove the risk. It left the decision to the wind.

Not everything comes back around. Sometimes you have to go get it.