April 2025

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

-African Proverb

Waiting … I am not particularly good with sitting and waiting.  I am more of a go-getter, making things happen or at least, making plans to make things happen. Yet, in my experience, waiting is a huge part of planning in nonprofit organizations. We need to wait for people to come together, visualize together, and execute together.  We need everything to line up so our plans can come together.  And if pieces don’t fit well, which is usually the case, we need to realign, wait, and see again.

So how does a go-getter learn to become patient and learn to wait?  I have and still continue to learn to let go of control. See, a go-getter wants everything to happen within their timeframe, in the order they expect, and with everything coming together perfectly. It is a physical manifestation of their need to control people and situations. So imagine a control freak not having this control.  It has not been an easy lesson.  I would rather jump into situations and fall flat on my face than sit and wait.  And let me tell you that I have fallen a few too many times.

Patience is definitely an art that may come with maturity but not necessarily. I have forced myself to constantly let go … for my own sanity and the sanity of people I work with. I try to meditate, walk endlessly, and pray so that I can let go of the constant need to make things happen. Why? Everything takes time and we need to work together with our communities to make a lasting impact.  

What matters if I, by myself, get to the finish line? If activism is about the community, then it is about helping everyone get to the finish line. If I am at the finish line all by myself, the whole process undermines the very purpose of activism, the transformation of the community. Sometimes, I wonder if I should have gone into the for-profit sector but where would I find meaning in my work.

At Platform, we are working together to develop our Spring project, Aurora Rising.  But it will take time and I am learning to let go of my need to control.  I am learning to allow leaders to rise and lean into their power.

Sam Joo

CEO and Founder

April 1, 2025