I love to listen to podcasts, and especially when I am walking. I recently listened to a podcast by Andy Stanley, and it touched me so much that I have listened to it twice. The podcast is titled “better decisions, fewer regrets.” (The title is not capitalized.) The subtitle is “5 Questions To Help You Determine Your Next Move.” The entire podcast is excellent, but there is one part in particular that really resonated with me. It is in that section that Andy Stanley says to “Pay Attention To The Tension.”

I think of “Pay Attention To The Tension” as knowing when something we are getting ready to do doesn’t feel right. Another way to say this is to pay attention to our gut, or to our intuition. While I believe this, and can think of times in which I found this to be true, knowing this is a valid approach does not make it easy to do. There are several reasons for this.

One issue is that we do not always know how to interpret the feelings we are having when we are “Paying Attention To The Tension.” Are we just having cold feet? Do we really know what we should do, yet don’t have the courage to do it? Or, are we truly confused about the signals we are getting? Then there is the issue of procrastination. Do we know what we should do, and yet put off doing it?

Sometimes we are just stuck, and really don’t know what to do. When that happens, we can become immobilized. But most of us are not comfortable with being immobilized, so we do something, even if we don’t know if it is the right thing to do. What we do know, or think we know, is that action is better than inaction. So we act, not knowing if it is the right thing to do, or maybe even thinking it isn’t the right thing to do. What we should do is get more comfortable with not knowing, and not allowing ourselves to act until we have more clarity.

Although this is hard to do, I have learned that when I do not know what to do, I shouldn’t do anything. I just need to get more comfortable with not knowing, and not doing.

I need to Pay Attention To The Tension. The tension is telling me something, I just do not yet know what it is telling me. If I give it time, clarity will come.