Patience drives your goals
By Jean Ricot Dormeus
Plumber Jay took a job to replace a dishwasher and renovate a bathroom. While removing the dishwasher off the kitchen countertop the appliance door fell heavily on his shoulder causing him acute pain. He took a week off to recover and come back to complete the job. As he was struggling to hang a bathtub glass door, the door slipped off his hand and shattered within the tub, injuring his arm in different places. He went home to take care of his wounds, but the following day, he was back at the job until he finished it. Patience helped Jay to deliver on his job.
Jay vividly experienced it, the sweat of climbing the slope of hard work comes before the fresh breeze blowing at the top of goal fulfillment. However, patience appears to be a scarce commodity. In 2015, 96% of Americans would knowingly consume extremely hot food or drink that burns their mouth, and in 2019, the average Brit would grow frustrated after waiting 25 seconds for a traffic light to change. Patience deficiency causes instability in relationships, high job turnover, and the spread of get rich quick schemes.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau a couple of centuries ago taught, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” And John Quincy Adams went one further, “Patience and perseverance have the magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” No matter what field we are engaged in, we’ll have to endure a sometimes steep learning curve and for a relatively long time, before we see the result we are after.
Since patience is such an important virtue, why don’t the majority of people practice it? Why does instant gratification often trump a lofty delayed reward? How often would people have reached their goals if they had applied patience by reframing the situation, understanding other peoples’ attitude, and avoiding assumptions?
Jean Ricot Dormeus
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