To run things,

don’t fuss with them.

Nobody who fusses

is fit to run things.

TAO TE CHING (Ursula K. LeGuin rendition)

You know how to get things done. You have worked hard, and it has paid off.

But somewhere along the way, effort stopped being a tool and became a habit. You push. You plan. You prepare for things that may never happen. And part of you suspects there is an easier way.

There is. I call it Wu Wei Play.

I’m Bruce Kasanoff. I listen to you until I see who you want to be. Most people feel misunderstood. I help you become the person you already are, in the work you do and the life you live.

Wu Wei Play rests on three simple ideas: awareness, joy and love.

Awareness: notice before you push

I did not plan or prepare for this photograph. We spent a morning wandering through Brooklyn. Hungry and tired, we had a slow, late lunch at Café Paulette. Then we walked down South Elliott Place toward Fowler Square. I looked up to my right, and there it was.

No effort produced that photo. Awareness did.

This is the Wu Wei part. It means acting without forcing. Some objects truly cannot be moved, and pushing them wastes years. Other things move almost by themselves, if you notice the moment. Most of my coaching starts here: where are you pushing, and what are you not yet seeing?

Joy: the best ideas find you

In May 1965, Keith Richards woke up in the middle of the night. He grabbed a tape recorder, played a guitar riff and went back to sleep. In the morning, he found the riff for (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, followed by almost an hour of his own snoring.

One of the greatest hooks in pop music found him while he slept.

I have had the opposite experience too. For years (yes, years) I tried to force one mediocre idea after another. I worked incredibly hard. In the end, I probably earned $1.94 an hour.

Here is what I learned. Play is not the reward you get after the work. Play is the work. When you are relaxed, curious and having fun, you are open. That is when the good ideas arrive.

So I use joy as a compass. When something expands me, I move toward it. When it feels like grinding, I stop and look again. I ask my clients to try the same thing. Their answers are usually more honest than any plan.

Love: lead with the heart

With dogs, I have always been able to change my state in a second. If I wake up early and don't want them to go out yet, I walk down the hallway in a certain way. It isn't about being quiet. My whole state says, "Not yet." They understand.

I never needed to think about it. I just felt it.

For most of my life, I have been much less natural with people. I tend to lead with my head. It took me years to learn what my dogs knew all along: people respond to how you feel, not to what you know.

That should change how you go after what you want. Don't just think about the outcome. Feel how you want to feel. The fuel is in the emotion, not the intellect.

Fear works the other way. If you seek something while you have an attitude of "or else I'm screwed," you create friction. You grip, and the grip blocks the flow. When you feel safe, you can stay open. Most of the hustle-harder approach is fear wearing a work shirt.

This is the part of Wu Wei Play I care about most.

Awareness shows you the moment. Joy tells you which way to go. Love is what makes the work worth doing.

Working together

I won't give you a formula. Instead, I will ask questions that help you see three things:

• Where you are pushing on something that will not move

• Where joy is already pointing, if you allow it

• Who you are when you stop proving it

Most of the people who work with me found me by accident, through something I wrote. Many have stayed for years. I suspect this is because I see what you are trying to say, even before you say it, and then I help you say it to the world.

If that sounds right, let's talk. If it doesn't, no worries. You will know when you are ready.

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. Every exit is an entrance somewhere else. True power is soft and yielding. Some people call that weak. It is not.

And everything new comes out of empty space. So let's make some room.

I work with entrepreneurs who are ready to question the unstated belief that progress always requires more effort.