I’m currently unemployed. I’m not lazy; I’m waiting for the next big thing.
In the summer of 1998, I got an opportunity to talk with Jobs again. I said, “Steve, this turnaround at Apple has been impressive. But everything we know about the PC business says that Apple cannot really push beyond a small niche position. The network effects are just too strong to upset the Wintel standard. So what are you trying to do in the longer term? What is the strategy?” He did not attack my argument. He didn’t agree with it, either. He just smiled and said, “I am going to wait for the next big thing.”
― Richard P. Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
This famous passage about Steve Jobs describes how he managed Apple. I think one’s career can be approached this way too, and I intend to try it for myself. The next big thing is not always obvious. I expect the best thing to do in this case is bide one’s time, enjoy the moment, read widely and stay curious. Let the next big thing reveal itself in due time.
A research paper from 1981, “Time resources and laziness in animals”, found that many animals spend a lot of their time doing nothing at all. We might have something to learn from our animal cousins. Inaction makes people uncomfortable, especially Westerners who are used to energetically attacking work. But not all work is worthy of one’s time; sometimes our time is better spent walking, reading, conversing, meditating, and exploring.