Don't sleep with your socks on: A crash course in overcoming uncertainty and doubt.

I was unprepared. 

Groggy and slow, I couldn’t understand why I was being yelled at.“Hakpatza hakpatzah!” - my commanders shouted. Shoot. 

It was my first month in the army. We knew this would come but we didn’t know when. The dreaded “hakpatzot” - when you are woken up in the middle of the night with no warning and given from 1-4 minutes to fully gear up for war and stand in formation. 

I fumbled to pull my socks on, put on my boots, grabbed my vest, and ran out the door. 

When four minutes were up - my helmet was hanging unstrapped off my head and only one my knee pads was on correctly, the other dangling around my ankle. 

“What’s the matter with you!” My commander screamed. 

My head hung low. 

For months after that, I always went to sleep with my socks on. My logic: I have to do everything I can now to make sure that I’m prepared for tomorrow. I will not let myself be caught off guard by the future again. 

Years later, beyond the army, I still make the occasional mistake of “Sleeping with my socks on”. 

When you go to sleep with your socks on - you’re saying to yourself: I am unable to cope with the tides coming my way. I must do everything I can now to control the future because I don’t trust myself to handle it tomorrow. 

This manifests in a drive to future proof our lives and careers and eliminate all shreds of uncertainty doubt.

I realized this: 

When you try to control the future, you take away the element of failure, but you also take away the element of growth. 

In Hebrew, the word Safek (Doubt), has the same root letters as the word Maspik (Enough). 

Sometimes, doubt has to be enough. 

If you can handle this moment, 

Chances are you can handle the next one too.