Hurry Up and Wait

What I found to be my daily routine and one of the few constants throughout my time in the Marine Corps, probably reigns true within all branches of the military, was the feeling of “hurry up and wait.” For example, the normal routine of going to the field consists of 0500 Formation to stage packs/gear, head over to armory to draw weapons, and as always, the armorer is not there. When he finally shows up, its 0630 and one by one, we draw weapons and head back to gear. Then, we all proceed to post up and some might fall asleep on packs and others hang out at the smoke pit, waiting on Motor T to get there with the trucks that were supposed to be there by 0800.

Now its 0900 and Higher Ups are waiting on word for the trucks from Motor T. No-one knows what is going on, but you have been ready since 0500 to get the day started. Finally, around 1000 the trucks arrive, and you head out to either the range or field Op. You get to the field and set up the range but now of course, are waiting on word for range to be cleared hot, which easily takes hours to happen.

After leaving the Marine Corps and returning home, I started my journey to become a WWE Superstar. I thought that maybe this hurry up and wait lifestyle would be a thing of my past but, not only was wrestling school a process similar to boot camp, starting at the basics before I could advance into more difficult aspects of the job, I thought this process could never take as long to get done as things did in the military. I soon found out that I was rushing to learn, advance, and grow into this new profession only to have to wait to be deemed good enough to start wrestling on my school’s small shows and then, work my way up to be paid for larger events. It wasn’t until I acquired a WWE enhancement talent opportunity at RAW and Smackdown and was giving a try-out in hopes to become an NXT Superstar, WWE’s third brand stationed in Orlando, FL, that “hurry up and wait” would always be my constant.

Days in WWE/NXT are no different. Most days when you wake up, it’s time to go train at the gym. By the time an hour has passed, you have to head back to the hotel to shower and get ready to head to the arena for a call time at 1pm. Usually, the production team and writers are in meetings and aren’t out to start their day until around 3pm anyway. So, here you are waiting on word for what your match might consist of, if you have a promo and what you will have to say, or a backstage-segments and what the objective is. The majority of the time, anything that was given to you after the production meeting will be changed on minimum, 3 to 4 times. So, it’s a never-ending process of hurry up and wait. WWE Superstars joke that we are professional waiters.

I wanted to share this because one of the many lessons that the Marine Corps taught me has been the one constant I can expect in my everyday life as a WWE superstar. Prepare, hurry up, wait, and repeat. Life is just all about patience and adapting. No matter how prepared you think you are and are waiting to make it happen, things are going to change, and you need to be able to adapt on the fly. Not only do things change every second in combat, things change every second once becoming a WWE Superstar. The time of your match can change while you’re waiting to go through the curtain and you have little time to prepare changes or sometimes, it changes while you’re actually wrestling in the ring. You could get more time to your match or worse, time gets cut. Sometimes, your entire match or segment gets cut from TV because someone else takes too much time and now, you’ve prepared all day for nothing. Similarly, you can be tasked with an Op and for a week or two plan every second and every detail of the mission ahead, and just before you’re ready to head out, Higher cuts your entire Op. The disappointment is real, but you cannot do anything about it. You realize really quick that when this happens, because it will inevitably happen again, all you can control is heading to the next town or the next Op and be as prepared as you can be.

To be honest, I feel that my everyday life is nothing but a “hurry up and wait.” You need to forgive and forget and move on to the next one. You need continue the grind of prepare, hurry up, wait, and repeat no matter the goal. Just know that whatever it is that you are going through, someone else has been through the same or something similar. Worry about your own what your own “hurry and wait” is and be as prepared as you can be. If things change, adapt and don’t be afraid to fail. You are going to fall flat sometimes but it’s just a round down range.