What Patience Can Do For You Today

A Pause for Patience (18/52)

This article is a part of a year-long series covering the most critical areas of life, meant to inspire action so you can determine what works best for you. I’m providing structure, trusted ideas, thought-starters, and challenges — see bottom of this post — to help me and several hundred others define how to Rewire their thinking and habits to live their Life on Purpose.

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” Leo Tolstoy

Patience is not talked about enough these days.

And it’s a reminder we all need.

We live in a world of instant gratification. Everything has become immediate, convenient, and easy. The things that aren’t tend to get ignored.

Worst yet, the stories we’re being told — and the ones that hold our attention — are stories that exaggerate the acceleration or ease of something. The details and the struggle aren’t as exciting. They don’t make for a great story. They get left out.

We like things that are immediate.

We’re drawn to them.

The numbness we feel from alcohol is immediate. It’s easier to come home to have a few drinks to feel good that night than it is to put in an extra hour on your passion project and feel good for a lifetime.

This message isn’t to blame the world or society. It’s to bring awareness to this instinctual response so we can maintain our focus and persistence.

I believe a lack of patience (and persistence) is one of three main threats to our success — however we each may define success. The other two threats are approval addiction (creating fear of failure) and a comfort-seeking mindset (prohibiting abundant thinking and abundant action).

There’s a balance to patience.

We should always push forward with action, but we need to accept that the hard work may not have an immediate payoff.

There is field to plow. Seeds to plant. Rain to fall. Plants to flower, then fruit…you get it.

Meanwhile, we may have a large vision that we’re after. Overtime we will have small or even large successes on the path to achieving that vision. We’re just as likely to face small or even large failures during this time.

Our vision will keep pulling us forward, but we need to identify milestones to reward us and motivate us through the struggle and sacrifice.

When we learn a new skill, it takes time to become very good. It will take discipline. It will take strategy. It will require learning from others.

And when we persist through all this, we can become very good. We can achieve our vision.

Patience is Power

Patience is not about conforming or suffering. Patience is a power.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” Benjamin Franklin

When we’re patient we can better handle difficulty. We remain calm through the storms. We make better decision (not rash decisions). Our minds are capable of greater creativity. We avoid damaging other aspects of life — relationship, health, wealth, etc. — and we are able to persist in the pursuit of our intentions.

It helps us accomplish our intention, mission, and purpose.

When we’re impatient, frustration grows easily.

Frustration is the energy that drives quitting. Quitting might be giving up altogether. Or, it might mean course correction after course correction, never reaching a destination.

Quitting gets us nowhere.

“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in your mind.” David G. Allen

THE CHALLENGE

Here are three steps to make patience work for you:

1. Revisit your vision often. Find a way put your vision into your mind every day. It will impact you, your energy, and your work.
2. Create milestones. Break down your larger goals and vision into smaller ones. This will help motivate you through any setbacks. (What do you want to accomplish 12 weeks from now? One month from now?)
3. Be mindful. Live in the present and reduce mind-wandering. Mind-wandering creates anxiety about the past or the future. Live in the now as much as possible. Breath during any moments you find yourself impatient and out of focus on that very moment.

Patience is not something we’re taught. We’re not born with it either. It’s something we do. And it’s something we need to practice.

To Your Success,

Will

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