Nathaniel J. Baskin
*Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner
Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity*
~ Laozi, the Tao Te Ching
In Chinese philosophy, the concepts of yin and yang represent the duality of opposing but interconnected principles. In the symbol, yin is the black half, and represents some kind of absence - it’s often associated with qualities like stillness, emptiness, and passivity. Yang is the white half, and represents the presence of something, like movement, fullness, and action. While it’s clear that yin and yang are opposites, understanding the give and take between the two can help us achieve a more stable footing in our day to day lives.
When it comes to going the distance in life, balancing yin and yang approaches is as vital to success as breathing; for every inhale, there has to be an exhale. Let’s explore what each approach means - including how to do them wrong, and how to do them right.
The yin approach is about non-exertion and passivity. While often side-eyed in competitive working environments, taking a hands off approach to our problems from time to time can often prove to be better than involving ourselves in wasted efforts. When we’re consumed in our activities, it can be hard to take a step back for the sake of detached observation and reflection. To put it another way, neglecting the yin approach is like trying to inhale without exhaling first.
A lot of the time, a problem is more simple than we like to admit. Taking the yin approach can afford busy people the distance to look past what seems important on the surface but is actually pointless in reaching the end goal. In essence, the yin approach is about finding the path of least resistance and working smarter instead of harder.
Joe wants to write a book so much, that it’s all he ever talks about with his friends. While he has a general idea about the topics he wants to discuss, he still has many unanswered questions when it comes to the details. Instead of carving out time in his schedule to put pen to paper, Joe sticks to reading, and waits passively for inspiration to strike. After many months of listening to Joe talk the talk, his friends still wonder if he’ll ever walk the walk.
What’s wrong with Joe’s approach: Despite having an initial idea, Joe doesn’t feel like that’s enough to actually get started. Instead of taking the first steps required to fuel further inspiration, Joe stays stuck where he is and lets time pass him by.
What Joe could do instead: The wiser approach for Joe would be to get whatever thoughts he can onto paper, at least to clear out space in his mind for next steps.
Amanda is a software engineer at a tech startup, and has been tasked with developing a new app feature to improve user experience. Despite going into the project with excitement, months pass and she’s still struggling to get the design right. Instead of digging for ideas from an empty well, she decides to take some time off to visit her family in the suburbs. While there, her brother introduces her to an app he’s been using to track his finances. She notices some features in the app that spark new ideas for her own project, allowing her to return to work with renewed energy and a fresh perspective.
<aside> 💡 Takeaway lesson: When we’re not getting the results we’re pushing for, stepping back from our work can seem counterintuitive. Sometimes, though, taking our minds off a problem can redirect our attention toward a solution we wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. This is how the yin approach helps us maintain perspective.
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The yang approach represents active effort and exertion that stands out in relation to the yin approach. When it comes to our working life, it can also be associated with how we structure our time, as well as the activity we perform within that time. Note that relative to these yang elements, the empty time and space within which everything is performed is the yin counterpart.
When done right, the yang approach grounds our work and yields results with weight and impact. While the element of hard work is crucial, it’s important not to overexert ourselves and put out our own fire in a death grip. When it comes to getting stuff done, the consistency and sustainability of our approach takes priority over immediacy of results.
Amy is a middle manager at a large corporation, and has taken responsibility for leading her team through a challenging project. Given the competitive culture of her industry, she believes that the key to success is to push her team hard and to set aggressive deadlines. As a consequence of the rigid expectations, workers go unable to voice honest concerns when they inevitably encounter obstacles. After a series of delays, Amy is finally able to present the results of her work to senior management, but is informed that the quality of work is subpar.
What went wrong with Amy’s approach: By forcing her project along at an unreasonable pace, Amy set her team up for a bumpy road. Successful teamwork requires healthy and honest communication. Given the pressure they were under, workers were unable to voice important feedback to their boss, effectively sabotaging their objectives.
What Amy could have done instead:
Amy would have benefited from embracing more feedback from her team. This would have allowed her to identify obstacles sooner rather than later, like getting cavities filled at the dentist to prevent tooth decay.
Nick has been working for a graphic design agency for several years but wants to freelance. After saving up enough money, he decides to quit his job and take the leap. He compiles his best work into a portfolio and gives himself three months to either land enough clients to cover his expenses, or move on to another agency. During that time, he researches three potential clients per week and sends them a tailored pitch with custom designs. He also leverages his network for word of mouth referrals. After only a month of hard work, he lands his first client, and manages to secure a second client by the end of month three.
<aside> 💡 Takeaway lesson: Set yourself up for success by establishing a realistic timeline and by putting in consistent effort every step of the way. When it comes to the yang approach, it is important to have SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
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Now that we understand the yin and yang approaches individually, what does it mean to balance the two properly? Practically speaking, a life with insufficient use of the yin approach can lead to workaholism, rapid but unsustainable growth, and burnout. Even when our efforts are succeeding as well as possible, life can always throw us a curveball that requires taking a step back to reassess our actions. In contrast, a life without the yang approach can lead to stagnation, missed opportunities, and lack of growth. Without putting in our best efforts, life will just pass us by.
Let’s revisit our example of Joe the aspiring writer. After months of passivity in his approach to starting his book, he came to the realization that he would continue to stagnate at zero without taking step one and balancing yin with yang. He decides to carve out time every evening after work to channel his ideas onto paper in whatever way possible. With discipline and determination, he averages 500 words per night over a period of 10 weeks. In total, that equates to 35,000 words that he would have never written otherwise. For reference, Hamlet by Shakespeare is just below 30,000 words. Joe’s first draft is by no means perfect and is far from cohesive, but at least now he has content to edit.
When we left off with Amy the middle manager, she had chosen to take an overzealous approach to leadership. Ultimately, her team’s results were called out by senior management for lacking in quality. Forced to return to the drawing board and balance yang with yin, Amy holds a difficult meeting for some much needed feedback. During the discussion, multiple team members open up about submitting results that they knew were incomplete in order to keep up with their boss’s ambitious deadlines. While the information uncovered was a blow to multiple egos, the learning experience allowed Amy and her team to go into their next project with more insight.
At a deeper level, it helps to understand the interconnected relationship between yin and yang, represented by the dot of the opposite color within each half of the symbol. In essence, both yin and yang exist only in relation to each other and arise from each other. Drawing in white ink on white paper will not produce a visible image, and neither will drawing in black on a black background. It is precisely the contrast between yin and yang approaches that transforms our life from a blank slate into a full picture. Put another way, we can’t crack the code with only 0s or only 1s.
In summary, striking a healthy balance between the yin and yang elements in our work is crucial to growth and success. Whether your fast-paced approach would benefit from space and reflection, or whether you need to challenge yourself more when the day-to-day routines grow dull, identifying the complementary forces that set the tone for your flow can bring clarity to even the murkiest of circumstances.