As a kid, one of the earlier sayings I remember hearing from adults was “Good things come to those who wait.” The idea is to be patient and don’t be in too much of a rush. As sayings go, it’s a pretty good one. Kids are generally impatient and there are many things that it makes sense to be patient for. But like most sayings, it is not universally true.
Lets contrast “Good things come to those that wait” with “Waiting for your ship to come in.” Both deal with patience but waiting for “your ship” generally means waiting for an opportunity that’s perfectly suited for you. Certainly there are merits to finding the “just right,” perfect situation and doing so would require some patience. But in an effort to find the perfect “ship” many people let perfectly good ships sail on while they patiently sit on the beach. Over time, they may find that their ship doesn’t come to their port and they would have wasted the opportunity to sail on a good ship and explore.
We are renting a beach house on Alligator Point on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. One of the prints hanging on the walls in the house is this one:
It says, “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” Meaning, that instead of waiting, waiting, waiting for “your ship” (e.g.: goal, dream, career, …) to arrive at your feet, you may need to take some proactive steps to reach it. Sage advice, in my opinion. I realize that it is impossible to specifically know how many great opportunities we let slide by, waiting for “something better,” but I am pretty confident that it happens more frequently than we realize.
Consider it this way: suppose you are trying to figure out what career is best for you and you are reticent to start anything serious for the fear of it not being “it”. You are proverbially sitting on the beach, waiting for your ship to come in. In this metaphor, I am not sure how you are supposed to know what “it” is when you see it. But even if you could, maybe your “it” ship doesn’t come to that port. What if it is sailing by? Well like the sign says, swim to it!
Let me stretch the analogy a different way. Instead of sitting on the beach waiting for “your ship,” get on a ship and start sailing. Look for a good quality ship that looks well maintained and especially pay attention to the Captain. Do they appear to be a good leader? When you talk to other sailors that served under him, what do they say about him? Is he a narcissistic tyrant or someone from whom you can learn? Finding a good captain is more important than the destination. Who cares if that ship is headed to Peru to pick up a load of fertilizer, if there is a Captain Musgrave at the helm, get on board (Note: if you want to understand the complete meaning of this last sentence, get a copy of my book Grounded here …).
As you learn all you can and absorb as much as a good mentor can supply. If that ship and its destination is not for you, then you can get off and find another ship, another captain. But sitting on the beach teaches you nothing; learning comes with mistakes, with action.