Many activities, including professional ones, become easier when you realize there's nothing to do.
Nothing. You just have to be there.
I first came across this idea in Rob Burbea's book "Seeing That Frees".
He was a meditation teacher at an institute. When someone came to him, he listened, answered questions, offered clarifications.
The rest of the time, he said, he walked. In a beautiful place.
And while he walked, he could see things in two ways. Either "I'm working". Or "I'm walking in a beautiful place".
In other words, between interactions, he was no longer working. He was doing what he would have done naturally.
And even during those interactions, he was also doing what he would have done naturally.
Meditation was at the heart of his life, of his concerns, and if a stranger had come up to him in the street to ask a question, he would have answered with joy.
It just so happened that, here, he was being paid. It was his job.
This way of seeing things had a huge impact on me.
Personally, first.
We sometimes struggle to approach people, to react to a situation.
It's because we're looking for what to do.
So very often, I repeat to myself: "there's nothing to do".
For example: I no longer approach a group, a person or a situation in order to do something.
I approach to be present. To listen. To be in the same space.
Then, after a while, I can't help but act. It comes out of me. It's obvious.
And in that moment, I act in a way I could never have imagined beforehand, from a distance.
Action arises from presence.
Whereas anxiety arises because we want to know what to do in advance.
"What on earth am I going to say?" "How could I be useful?" "Why would they want me?"
You have to take the first step knowing that you don't know.
The rest follows.
And when nothing comes, that's fine too.
This idea also transformed me professionally.
Now, most of my income comes from actions I would do even if I weren't being paid.
That's my idea of alignment.
My coaching offers are built on my natural reaction to the people I meet.
The words coming out of my mouth are the ones I'd say to anyone in the same situation.
At no point do I force myself. At no point do I feel like I'm working.
Even my videos for finding prospects are easy to make.
A caveat: I'm not saying this alignment happened overnight. It took work. (And I still have a way to go!)
But at the heart of it all, there's this idea you find in creative work, in productivity, even in acting:
There's nothing to do.
To act is to react.