How often do you feel that things aren’t happening quickly enough? That nothing is materializing in the time frame it should? That you’re lagging or stagnating or just plain ineffective?
Does not being able to make a difference inside of a week, month or even a year lead to a sense of urgency that turns to desperation in moments of self-doubt?
Don’t sweat it. I feel it, too. And so does every other human who makes the attempt to launch a product, build a business, grow a following, self-improve or foster a relationship.
Patience is a virtue. But in a world of clicks, likes, shares, tweets, 3-minute videos and “buy now” buttons, patience can feel much less like virtue than surrender to a colossal waste of time.
If the Internet says I can lose 50 pounds in 14 days, then it must be true.
When I was about eight, my mom taught me how to hang wallpaper. I remember picking out the pattern for my bedroom in the afternoon, and thinking that by nightfall, the repeat print of neon cats sleeping on checkered bedspreads would prove a stunning backdrop for my books, Barbies, seashells and souvenirs, all painstakingly placed to garner jaw-dropping compliments and envious clucks from the next day’s visitors.
My one-hour-wallpaper-plan turned out to be a farce. At minute 59, we were still doing inventory on our tools and preparing our work surface. I was bored. Frustrated. Angry at my mom for making me do it the right way. Who does things the right way, anyway? I found it utterly passé.
Fast forward 40 years, and I still struggle with patience every day. I’ve just been schooled enough times to know that the right way isn’t passé. It’s the only way.
So when I feel the urge to skip steps, to rush through, to demand immediate results from what I know are incomplete efforts, I turn to this motivational quote from Justin Halpern’s book, Sh*t My Dad Says:
“What are you doing with that rake?… No, that is not raking…. What? Different styles of raking? No there is one style, and then there is bullshit. Guess which one you’re doing.”
And then I get back to work.
