In a world where most people are impatient, patience is a rare virtue. Have you ever found yourself growing impatient
- waiting for a colleague to get back to you
- not seeing results for your hard work
- Seeing someone more successful than you
Instant Gratification
Understanding the art of timing is important. It allows you to work with time and accomplish great things. We live in a fast-paced society where everyone wants to do things faster. Most people are chasing happiness and make decision compelled by a tendency to seek pleasure.
We want our needs and desires to be fulfilled immediately. Many people can’t control their urge to indulge in something that will provide instant gratification. Humans are naturally driven to seek pleasure and avoid pain. It is therefore difficult to delay gratification and waiting is not an option for many.
We all want to get more done in less time. Being impatient is not necessarily a bad thing. What if that impatience was misdirected?
Channeling your impatience
Most people aim their impatience at the wrong targets. We’ve all been there, growing impatient and being obsessed with a desired outcome. Focus your impatience on actions and see what happens.
Why successful people are incredibly patient?
When it comes to results, successful people are incredibly patient as they understand the art of timing. It is hard to not see progress or results when you are working really hard and giving something your all. Most people run out of steam and give up before they see any results. This is because they underestimate the time they could accomplish their goals and grow impatient.
If you want to get in better shape (perhaps a six-pack abs), you might not get there in a day, week or month. You might work out for few weeks without seeing much results. Most people won’t see much change after a few weeks of work out and may give up before achieving their goal. If you are willing to put in the time and work impatiently, you will eventually get in better shape.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Newton’s Law
Successful people understand results come from actions and give themselves sufficient time to accomplish their goals. They are biased to take actions over a long period of time and believe results will follow. Successful people are aggressively impatient with their actions. They have a sense of urgency and don’t wait tomorrow for something that can be done today.
The probability of success rises over time the more actions you take towards your goals. I will leave you with a quote from Naval Ravikant to conclude today’s insight “Impatience with actions, patience with results.”
