The Link Between Patience, Complacency and Ambition
I’ve always thought of myself as an impatient person. I set goals and even when I’m “on pace”, I’m unsatisfied. I want to outpace myself. My wife tells me that I’m progressing. She says that I need to give myself some credit.
There’s some truth to that. But I think that being discontent is a prerequisite for maintaining patience.
So the other day, I was at the gym early. I’ve got fitness goals that I’ve been working towards since early 2015. I’ve been steadily tracking my progress and inching towards a sustainable, healthier me.
After working up an early morning sweat, I glanced in the mirror on the the way out of the locker room. Coincidentally, at that moment, I hear Drake in my headphones. “Man, I’m only 29 have some patience wit us”.
For a brief moment, I thought, “hey, the work is paying off”. Progress.
But almost immediately, I thought, “but not yet. long way to go. keep at it”. That’s just how my mind works. I think it’s partly because I’m really afraid of complacency. It’s bitten me before and it takes a while to extract that venom.
Maybe I just have a different brand of patience. It’s heavily influenced by grit and ambition.
According to Angela Duckworth, grit is passion plus perseverance. Passion is largely about being consistent over time. Perseverance is about having the willpower to overcome setbacks.
Ambition is a mix of big goals and a sense of urgency.
That sense of urgency is where the tension contrasts what we might usually think of as patience.
I’m only 28. I’ve got more than a long way to go to reach the goals I’ve got for myself. The ground that I need to cover is not ‘sprintable’. But if I want to keep improving my pace, I feel the need to remain unsatisfied.
David Ogilvy helped build one of the world’s greatest agencies with ‘divine discontent’ as one of their central ideas.
There’s a blurry line between patience and becoming lethargic. And complacency can turn into lethargy if you’re not careful. So if divine discontent is a great antidote for complacency, then it’s necessary for patience, right?
What do you think? I’m open to ideas. Tell me why I’m wrong.
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Brent is Co-Founder of People + Words, a content marketing and copywriting company with story, data and strategy at the center.
