Passive Management

Amy Choi

There was an English couple in their 60s who were informed one day that both had terminal cancer. Their doctors estimated that they could only survive for only about six more months. Surprised but not devastated by the news, they asked themselves, “Now given the fact, what do we really want to do before leaving this world?” Their conclusion was a round-the-world trip.
There was no time to lose. They sat down and drew a list of must-go places before death. It included the Kruger National Park of South Africa, Niagara Falls in North America, Eiffel Tour in Paris, Hong Kong, etc. Then, they cashed in everything to obtain HKD1.5 million and proceeded to realize their life dream.
After months of travel, they got back home to have a check-up, just to find that their cancer had been healed miraculously.

I was deeply moved by this true story read in a local newspaper in late June. How I admired their commitment to act according to their hearts, their positive attitude and their readiness to just do it.
I believed that their being healed was no co-incidence. Their actions had consciously and subconsciously helped to re-orientate their whole lives, and positive changes followed. It was a real-world demonstration of how balancing your body and mind can work wonders.
What they had done, in my opinion, were that:
1) they acknowledged the issue they were facing;
2) they saw through the issue to gauge its implications
on their lives, and asked, “What do I want?”;
3) they translated intention into actions;
4) they enjoyed the process; and
5) they let go of the result.
Perhaps points 1 to 4 are easily understandable. Point 5 can be a little bit tricky. “This is a passive strategy and an avoidance approach!” “I would not just sit and wait for things to happen!”
Well! Humans in flesh and blood are limited beings, whether you like it or not. In every situation, there will be certain circumstances in which you have varying degrees of control, but not even influence in certain others. In the former part, one of course can actively participate and manage; but in the latter part, it would be better for you to acknowledge your limitations and passively manage, leaving the rest to unfold on its own accord.
What is “passive management”? Everything has its own pattern and model of development. Following its nature and you are spending less effort for better result. Ignoring it and you are spending more effort for worse result. Just like driving on the road. What you can control is the steering wheel; what not, the traffic flow, the traffic lights, etc. To safely reach your destination effectively, you manage not only actively and drive towards it in a straight line no matter what; but you mix in some passive management elements, steering the vehicle on one hand and flowing along with the traffic flow and traffic lights on the other, changing for other flows every now and then when appropriate. Thus, passive management is to choose which flow to go along in and when to change flow. 

“Passive management is to choose which flow to flow along in and when to change flow.”