Observe not absorb were the wisest words shared with me by my mentor during one of the recent conversations.
She shares a similar point of view as me which is that the doers excel, but the doers have one huge disadvantage—they turn everything into a battle—if not wary of that.
If something is not functioning well, they go into a solution mode. Before they realize they are now solving 50 items while draining their energy. They are losing focus on their original objective.
One might say it is easy to sit back and watch while doing nothing, but having too many things on the platter is equally a danger. The bloat will kill you.
You are not complacent while you are observing. It is still an active form of learning. But being absorbed in every problem is a danger you need to be aware of.
One way to limit on the amount of battles you can fight is to choose the right tribe with principles that are aligned with yours. This should reduce the chaos but not eliminate. For example, the baseline for moving fast is to make decisions on a call instead of countless meetings. This could be the ethos of an organization on how it operates. And if the ethos align with yours then you have one less battle to fight and focus more on your objective.
Observe not absorb is a zen way to stay calm in the middle of the storm. Don't swing on every ball. Choose wisely which voices to let in, which emotions to allow passage, and which judgements to acknowledge.