Most of life is spent waiting. Waiting for fulfillment, recognition, love, and clarity. There’s often a quiet hope that effort alone will be enough, that the mere act of showing up, giving, building, will return something in kind. But the truth is, things don’t respond just because they should. They respond when they’re ready. When there’s desire, when there’s deliberate motion.

It’s not effort that guarantees return, but reciprocity. Something has to want you back. Investment flows where there’s perceived value, and when the pull isn’t mutual, it tends to fall flat. Most things in life — people, dreams, ideas — only reach out when they see something they want to grasp. The absence of that signal usually reveals everything: disinterest, indifference, sometimes even emptiness. So if nothing is moving toward you, then it might not be meant for you. Or it’s just not time yet.

The challenge, then, becomes one of tuning in. Paying attention to the signals that matter. Not every flicker or nudge means something. But there are patterns that emerge when something is truly aligned. Whether it’s a project, a relationship, a goal, or even a fleeting idea, the ones worth investing in are the ones that keep signaling back. They show up, again and again, even when you’re not calling. They pull you closer instead of making you chase.

This philosophy mirrors the patience of great investors — Warren Buffett comes to mind — who wait not for quick returns, but for long-term value. They listen. They observe. They let time filter out the noise. They invest not in the loudest pitch, but in the quiet consistency of proven return. The stock that keeps earning. The person that keeps calling. The idea that won’t leave you alone.

In this way, life becomes a process of discerning which things are truly reaching out, and being wise enough to meet them there. Not everything that glimmers deserves your time. But when something does — when it chooses you back — that’s when you give everything. Because those are the things that grow. Those are the ones that last.