Breadth Thrusts & Bread Crusts: Learning From My Spirit Animal

I grew up only a few miles from one of the largest heron nesting sites on the East Coast, where it was common to see them flying high overhead. Here in central Wisconsin, I’ll also see them patiently standing on the shorelines.

Herons don’t wade at the water's edge just for the thrill of getting their feet wet. They are actively fishing -- even as they stand motionless for minutes on end. 

Active does not mean endless action or meaningless activity. For the heron, it's a matter of finding the right spot on the lake, patiently waiting for just the right moment, then moving with overwhelming decisiveness. Fishing is marked by periods of extended stillness, followed by a flurry of activity.

We have a lot we could learn from Great Blue Herons. Too often, we mistake busyness with productive activity. I even have notes on my desk reminding me to be patient and not invent things to do to avoid taking care of important activities. 

A heron is active through observation and positioning as it waits for opportunity. But when it is time to strike, it's time to be decisive. Dinner depends on it.

There are certainly some cases where doing a little bit every day makes a lot of sense. When establishing patterns of behavior, for example, a steady dose goes further than a single grand effort. But too much time spent tweaking can distract us from noticing opportunities -- or even prevent them from emerging in the first place.

For me, the best approach to active investment is to follow the example of the Great Blue Heron: Get a sense of the environment, get in position, and wait patiently until it is time to act. When it is time to adjust our portfolios, do so decisively.

Be stubborn enough to trust the process and find the opportunity. Be flexible enough to recognize when it is not working and adapt as necessary.

If there are no fish to be found, we cannot be afraid to try another lake. If the conditions are not right, we can move on. There is no need to force any action.

To paraphrase Dietrich Bonhoeffer: whoever cannot be still should be wary of taking action; whoever cannot stand action, should beware of stillness.

This is embodied by the Great Blue Heron, and it's a model of patient decisiveness I try to follow.