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 perfectly-timed 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 often more important than effort.

Awareness can’t entirely replace effort, but it can replace huge sums of unnecessary effort. In our society, it’s so easy to fall into the trap that convinces you to work harder rather than smarter.

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. The song, which catapulted the ascendant British blues-rock group to global fame, had an unusual origin: 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 he 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).

For years, I’ve been fascinated by a practice I call Gentle Wishing.

It’s the art of making a wish with enough conviction, emotion and clarity to help it manifest, but without the rigidity and fear that can keep it from coming true.

There are two sides to this process.

First: in my opinion (and in that of many others), 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.

I used Gentle Wishing to get accepted into Wharton’s MBA program despite my 2.4 college GPA from a state university. (Wharton was the only grad school to which I applied.)

I also used it to pitch my way into the original LinkedIn Influencer program, when virtually everyone else in the program was famous.

In both cases, I had an immediate, compelling sense of what it would feel like to be on the inside. My desire was so clear that I never stopped to consider how long the odds were against me. I gave each my best shot and then I let each of them go, until the happy news arrived.

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.

That’s why you might benefit from the presence of someone like me. Maybe, maybe not. That’s up to you. I don’t sell, but I do tell the truth about what I believe and how I work.

Keep your nose to the grindstone too long, and all you’ll end up with is a very short nose.

Wu Wei Play is a touchstone my clients and I return to again and again.

When you're stuck, pushing too hard, or trying to control everything, we can explore a different approach.

What's actually happening here? What are you missing? Where are you fighting the current? What might happen if you stopped forcing things?

Sometimes the answer is to act boldly. Sometimes it's better to do less. You might even discover that what seemed like a problem isn't really a problem at all.

I'm not here to teach you how to run your business.

I'm here to help you recognize when you're working with the natural flow of life, and when you're fighting against it.

I’m Bruce Kasanoff, and I work with a handful of entrepreneurs who are ready to question the assumption that progress always requires more effort.