To run things,

don’t fuss with them.

Nobody who fusses

is fit to run things.

TAO TE CHING (Ursula K. LeGuin rendition)

Let me guess… you are a person who works hard and has enjoyed entrepreneurial success. You know how to get stuff done.

You are also curious and open-minded. You don’t yet have all the answers and are drawn to new possibilities. You already understand that the world is too complex to go it alone.

I suspect these things because everyone who has ever chosen to work with me (often after stumbling across my online presence) fits this description. Most have stayed with me for years.

Let me share a few things I’ve witnessed over the years…

Which is more powerful: effort or awareness?

Here’s exactly how I captured this photograph of the sun shining through an opening at the top of the Bank Tower:

1. We spent a morning and early afternoon wandering through Brooklyn.

2. Hungry and tired, we remembered Café Paulette, a restaurant we had previously enjoyed.

3. After a relaxing late lunch, we wandered down South Elliott Place, towards Fowler Square.

4. Looking up to my right, I noticed the sun perfectly aligned with the opening at the top of the clock tower.

5. I said, “Emergency, please take my book” and quickly handed my companion the book I bought a few hours earlier. (I had perhaps just a few seconds before the sun’s alignment disappeared.)

6. I took a few photos, one of which you see here.

Be aware, and good things happen.

Awareness is more important than effort.

Wu Wei Play is the approach I use to coach entrepreneurs. Based loosely on an ancient Chinese philosophy, it reminds us to regularly check whether we are maintaining a healthy balance between effort and awareness.

It encourages me to ask my client-partners questions that reveal whether you might be trying to push some objects that truly are immoveable. (That would be a bad idea.)

It also helps both you and I remain open to the sort of eureka moments that have the potential to shift the path of our lives in ways that are truly profound. (That is a very good idea.)

The best ideas find you, not the other way around.

Some of the songs we know and love the most… chose the artist who “wrote” them.

According to History.com, “On May 12, 1965, the Rolling Stones finish the studio recording of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, their first major hit. Less than a week earlier, during the early morning hours, the band's bleary-eyed lead guitarist Keith Richards had bolted up from his bed, grabbed a tape recorder and laid down the song's opening riff, now considered one of the greatest pop hooks of all time.”

When Richards woke up in the morning, he found the tape had run out. When he played it back, it had the riff that has since become instantly recognizable, followed by almost an hour of snoring.

We all have had moment when an idea or inspiration found us. These moments feel effortless, perfect.

Speaking for myself, I also have gone through stretches of years (yes, years) in which I tried to force one mediocre idea after another into fruition. I worked incredibly hard, and in the end probably earned $1.94 per hour for my efforts.

Feel how you want to feel.

Instead of endlessly thinking about what you want, feel how you want to feel (when you get what you think you want).

There are two sides to this process.

It’s not enough to think about an outcome you want to manifest. You also have to feel what it’s like to have that outcome come true. The fuel is in the emotion, not the intellect.

Second: specificity matters. “I want more money” isn’t an effective way to wish. “We need $325,000 to build a school on this plot of land” is much better.

Now for the part most people overlook: rigidity and fear create friction. They block positive energy. Wishing for something with the attitude of “or else I’m screwed” is a highly effective way to kill your wish. It’s the exact opposite of dwelling in the emotions of living as though your wish has already come true.

This is the difference between Wu Wei Play vs. the “hustle harder and harder” approach many entrepreneurs employ.

When something fits perfectly with who you actually are, the universe will help you get it, assuming you follow the kind of path I’m describing here: pure, genuine, self-assured conviction.

The challenge for all of us is to stick with the effortless, fully aware way of being even when your path is cluttered with daily distractions and a frustrating number of setbacks.

Return is how the Way moves.

Weakness is how the Way works.

Heaven and Earth and 10,000 things are born of being.

Being is born of nothing.

TAO TE CHING (Ursula K. LeGuin rendition)

The Universe moves in cycles, and every exit is an entrance to somewhere else. True power is soft and yielding; some call this “weak”.

Everything we can see, hear and touch came out of nothing. Emptiness is the birthplace of everything new, fresh, original, and precious.

Let’s building something precious together.

I’m Bruce Kasanoff, and I work with entrepreneurs who are ready to question the unstated belief that progress always requires more effort.